Gang
by LoweFantasy
Summary: Sequel to Cumin and Plain, but can be read on its own. Mai's graduated from high school and is taking her first steps into adulthood. When a unique case comes along that requires the team to follow a college student who believes himself to be haunted by his demon double, she get's a different perspective on what it means to have a future, including Naru's place in it.
1. Prologue

Gang

By LoweFantasy

Prologue

Graduation day came with a huge spring thunderstorm. It ended up so bad that the electricity went out half way through the principal's speech, to the relief of many of us. Of course, not even my closest (and I use the term loosely with the least offense intended), friends could understand why I flinched and turned into a jittery mess. It was just a normal power outage, and in a few minutes it came back on, the principal waved us off to go make the world a better place, we cheered, and I followed my peers back out into the hail and rain—where a crowded team of ghost investigators waited for me beneath umbrellas. Even, to my surprise, Masako.

"Guys…" oh yeah, the feels, the tears, here they came. They just had to stand there like the little makeshift family I thought they were.

"Congratulations, Mai-chan," said Takigawa and Ayako, who came to either side of me to bring me under their canopy of umbrellas.

A gust of wind threatened to upturn it, throwing raindrops at us. It's okay, mother nature. It wasn't like I spent an hour trying to make my shoulder length boring brown hair look good or anything.

Not to mention we graduates wore our school uniforms, which meant I ended up like an unsuccessful Marilyn Monroe trying to keep my skirt down. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Naru smirking. John suddenly looked somewhere else. Lin didn't change at all.

"Italian!" crowd Takigawa. "Mai-chan must have fine pasta cuisine! My treat."

"You idiot, her favorite food is sushi! Right, Mai?" Ayako gave me a smug smile, knowing brownie points were in her direction.

"Dummy, I bet Naru get's her sushi all the time! We should give her something to remember the event by."

"How about not freezing to death?" I asked, huddling closer to my boyfriend, who was more than happy to throw his jacket over me, which was long enough to assist in keeping my skirt down.

Masako agreed with me, a kimono sleeve held over her head like a blanket.

Which found us all in the company van, which, for the first time, had the never before seen seats installed in the back rather than the usual block of equipment. We fit in a bit tightly, but everyone got a seat belt, and I got the seat behind the two front seats with Masako.

"So, Mai," she said quietly as we headed under way. "What will you be studying?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm not going to college."

A dead silence fell over the van. Everyone stared at me in surprise. Well, everyone but Lin, who had his eyes to the road.

"Wait," said Takigawa. "You aren't going to college?"

I sighed. I had gotten quite tired of this from my friends and teachers. I wasn't stupid and got good marks, so the teachers found it a crying shame. "It's not like there's a college degree in paraphysiology or ghost hunting in Japan. Besides, I really like the idea of being a housewife someday, so until that time happens, I can support myself just fine without getting into loads of debt for a college degree I may or may not use."

John beamed. "That's wonderful, Mai! Mother and homemaker is the holiest calling on earth, you'll do wonderful! If only more woman chose that route—"

Ayako interrupted him. "Are you sure, Mai?"

Masako had lifted her sleeve to her face, making the crinkle of her dark eyes difficult to read.

"Yes, I'm sure, and I'd think I've been adulating long enough to know what I want."

"A housewife," said Ayako, and her nose wrinkled in disgust. "God, no."

Just as the hurt started to register in my heart, the last person I expected to defend me spoke up.

"A most noble and brave choice of career," said Masako quietly.

Ayako must have realized the thoughtlessness of her comment when Takigawa glared at her and John lowered his eyebrows and more or less did the same. "Oh my gosh, you're totally right! You can do whatever you want, of course." She hesitated. "But what if, you know…things don't turn out right? I mean, can you really depend on some man to provide for you? And what if you have kids?"

Takigawa gave a snorting grunt of indignation. "It isn't like she'll be a dead in the water dependent, Ayako. Besides, if her husband decides to run off or kick the bucket, I'll marry her, so there."

"By the time that happens, you'll be too old or dead."

"Just how old do you think I am? And who are you to talk, grandma?"

"Oo, wow, get your insults from a fourth grader? Seriously, Monk, grow up."

John cringed besides them in the back seat. I rolled my eyes and focused my attention to the dark ocean eyes looking back at me from the rearview mirror besides Lin. They blinked and looked away.

"Naru…?" So many things echoed in that one question that I didn't know if I wanted answered. Did he even want to be with someone with ambitions to be a housewife? To raise and be there for children and to make a home? Having lived both with and without a mother, I knew how much of a difference it made, but would he see that? Did he disapprove?

For one of the few times since I had known him, he read my mind when I actually wanted him to.

"That's wise of you, Mai."

I could feel a smile popping on my mouth. From behind me the fight went on.

"Hear that? Naru's all for it, and he's the one who's going to marry her—"

"Please, you two, it's really none of our business," tried John.

"Shut up! All I did was express an honest concern! Being a single mom is hard—"

"There's nothing saying she'll be a single mom! Honestly, do you think anyone else could put up with Naru's attitude?"

"For Pete's sake!" I cried. "We're not engaged, already, will you two act your age, please?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Masako's shoulders slump down, as though relaxing at my words. My stomach did a little nervous squirm at that. But when I next looked up, it wasn't to see her hopeful expression, but the tiny smile from my boss in the rearview mirror.


	2. Day One of Adulting

**Hello peons! I told you I would write a sequel to Plain, and here it is! Muwahahaha! I'm not suppose to write on Sunday, so I can't give it to you this minute, but I can tell you I'm itching to write like no binyada-whatever that is. Anyhoo, you're going to love this one. ) I got some serious freaky stuff in store for you. Don't think you know what to expect.**

 **But you can expect an update at least once a week, by Wednesday, per usual.**

 **Anyhoo, R &R**

Chapter 1

Waking up the next morning was the weirdest experience of my life, and that said something, seeing as I frequently had effed up dreams about murders and rape and dead people of every kind. I'd even woken up feeling like an entirely different person before.

But for the first time, I didn't have school. The world was wide open to me. I could do whatever I wanted. I was a full blooded, through and through adult.

…so…what did adults do anyways?

Since today was my day off, I didn't bother getting out of bed, but pulled over a notebook and my favorite purple pen. After tapping the tip against my bottom lip for a bit, I wrote down a list.

 **What Adults Can Do that Kids Can't**

 **1\. Drink**

 **2\. Smoke**

 **3\. Sue**

 **4\. Drive?**

 **5\. Get Married**

I paused on that last one, and even though no one was there, I felt my face heat up. I had no inclination to do the first four, as the first two just sounded like a slow way to kill yourself, the third had too much paperwork, and the fourth (combined with my clumsy, trouble prone self), would probably end up getting someone killed, but the fifth…

I slapped the notebook against my face.

"You're not mature enough for that, yet!" I cried. "Who ever heard of a marriage at 18 working out?"

Well, quite a few times. In fact, just a few decades ago, everyone was either married or getting married at—

"You're not ready to be a mother! Getting married means kids, and you're too baby hungry too…"

The heat spread out from my face to every pore on my body.

Sex.

I stupid grin twitched the corners of my mouth that got me slapping the notebook against my face again, screeching "Pervert! Pervert! Pervert!"

So when the door suddenly opened of its own accord, I wasn't prepared, and more or less screamed in the face of said boyfriend I had been fighting not to fantasize about. It wasn't like I had ever _had_ sex before, so what did I have to be so giddy about?

An all too amused twitch fought at the corner of his mouth like a psychotic tick. "Who's being a pervert?"

I scowled. "This is technically breaking and entering."

"Your door was unlocked—which, by the way, I'm very displeased about. You seem to not think—"

"You could have at least knocked!"

"I wanted to see what all the excitement was about, and…" he trailed off, the amusement breaking out in full on his face. Even something so common place still made him look like an arrogant, narcissistic, overwhelmingly attractive ass.

"And what? Spit it out so I can properly dump you."

"I was curious to see if you slept naked or not at home." His eyes did a quick sweep of me. "Apparently not."

Hotter than ever, I chucked a pillow at his stupid smirking face.

"Who would have ever guessed you were such a pervert?"

"I'm a man, Mai."

"What? So you got porn stashed away in your office somewhere? I'm your assistant, I will find it!"

"Then you never will, because I have no use for it. Besides, I've read plenty of studies about how detrimental it is to mental, emotional, sexual, and social health. It's also as addictive if not more so than any drug, and I don't like the idea of anything controlling me."

I snorted. "Should have thought that before getting into tea then, eh? I know you get caffeine headaches—"

"Speaking of which," he half turned to the kitchen. "If you wouldn't mind."

"This is _my_ house!" I got up anyways, the content happiness that usually came from being around him taking over the space of my half-willed indignation.

Soon we had two cups of tea, some leftover rice and milk from the night before, and a sun warmed patch on the floor together. It was then I noticed the folder tucked beneath his arm and sighed.

"Can't you ever come over just because you like me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought it showed that I liked you by even briefing the case in your own home, rather than back at the office. Besides," he waved the manila folder out from his side. "Good conversation fodder."

I took what he said at face value. It was halfway through a bite of rice that my Naru translator flicked on and I almost choked.

Naru frowned at my hacking, to which I quickly cleared and settled an all too happy smirk at him, to which he answered with a frown.

"Whatever your thinking is wrong," he said.

"Why do you need conversation fodder when you're in my house?"

"Because it's polite. Also, I like to make full use of my time, unlike you. How many hours of Netflix did you watch this week?"

I ignored his question. One, because he had brought it up enough times in order to insult the state of my brain, and to which I didn't care (or tried not to). Two, because I was beginning to suspect he had some sort of work related anxiety that made it so he couldn't even sit still through a whole movie. Had a date experience to support that theory. Besides, no one could be that genius and that good looking without some sort of mental defect.

And three, he would never understand how deathly attractive Sherlock was while played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Not Cumberbatch himself, mind you. Just Sherlock…when played by him. And when he started talking smart…man, if only Naru could talk smart like that. Why didn't he? They were both genius detectives (in a way), weren't they?

But even so, I stopped there. My Naru detector could be just full of itself. It couldn't be that I was so appealing that he was afraid of accidentally seducing me if he didn't bring something to preoccupy himself. Besides, he and I had agreed to put our foot down and not do anything until marriage…and then there was birth control and…

I shut down my brain. Our relationship wasn't to that level yet…wait, did we ever have a level? Or levels? Weddings?

Oh God, I didn't even know how deep it had to be to get married. I had been completely happy just to remain on the 'I love you, you love me' simplicity. Certainly there weren't levels to love, right? _Right?_

Naru gave a heavy sigh over his tea. "Alright, what's got you running circles in your brain like a chicken with its head chopped off?"

Usually I would snap at him about his insensitivity for simply sighing at my sudden panic, but…well…since it did include him…and part of having a healthy relationship was communication…not to mention I'd probably blurt it out sooner or later…

But good heavens, how did I even frame all that into a question? What if I said something about sex? He said he wanted to wait till marriage, I was all for that, but the levels—the levels! Where were we even at?! Would we even get married? Or was I screwing everything up and he'd end up leaving me?

"Um…do you…" Oh no oh no, I couldn't bring up marriage—he brought up marriage—were sex and marriage even the same thing—YES! "Do you have any STDs?"

He had been taking a sip of his tea just then and choked. He ended up in a worse coughing fit than me, and for a moment I thought, in a sort of hysteric humor, how funny this would be if he ended up dying from this.

"STDs?" He finally choked. "Sexually transmitted diseases?"

I threw my hands over my face. "It isn't like I'm thinking of sleeping with you, I haven't even—I mean, I don't even know if I'm emotionally mature enough to not ruin a marriage and—kids and—what did you say? Negative impacts and—oh my gawd, _kill me now_ -"

"I don't know."

I stopped. My heart stopped. My furiously blushing face suddenly went clammy.

Slowly I lowered my hands. Naru had left his mug on the floor, but his head was bowed and his arms folded tightly over his chest, as though to protect himself from something. I could only make out his slightly parted mouth beneath the curtain of his bangs.

"You mean…" Why did it suddenly hurt? Like some burning, aching thing had taken my liver's place? Why did I feel so scared? He had told me he had never had sex, so had he lied?

"I didn't lie, I've never been intimate with anyone," he said quickly. "But…"

The pain turned to something else entirely. The ice in my body went cold.

With a robotic like motion, he picked up his tea and downed the rest of it. His bangs parted to reveal his usual, default expression. When he next spoke, his voice had taken on the tone it usual did when he was regurgitating a text book like a good little nerd.

"I don't remember it, persay, but Gene did. He's the one who told me—showed me—whatever you want to say, because it happened to him. He didn't want to be alone. We were kids and, well, it's kind of hard to keep track of everything that goes on in an orphanage."

"I thought you said nothing happened to you like…" I thought back to our last case and suddenly felt sick.

"It didn't," he said, disconnected textbook voice beginning to unnerve me. "But it only happened once, by one man, and it happened forcefully, I didn't choose it, and that's all you need to know. If you ever wish—you can depend on me to be…" he gave a loud, disgruntled puff out his nostrils. "I'm guessing you brought this up because of what Ayako said the other day. But, now you know, so if you don't mind I'd like to move on to less awkward and more productive subjects."

And without another word, he flipped open the folder and spread out a few photos for me to see.

I caught his wrist as it moved to pull out some text. Carefully dodging around the mugs of tea, I leaned over and kissed him softly beneath his eye. Then beneath the other.

"My poor boy…" my heart whispered through my mouth, and it hurt. I wanted to cry. But Naru always got so uncomfortable when I did, so I pulled back and made my best good little employee smile at him. He blinked at me, something moving in the back of his gaze. His already parted lips opened to frame a word, closed, then pressed tight as he referred to his paperwork.

"This case is going to be a little different than before, namely that we won't be researching a site haunting, but a personal haunting. A man by the name of Hiro Terro claims to be suffering from a spirit intent on killing him so it can take his place, a doppelganger, persay. Given I've never heard of a successful case with a doppelganger, or even if they exist, I am quite curious. I would have turned him down if it were for…" he pushed forward the last two photos from the folder.

The hair on the back of my next prickled. In the picture was the young man in question taking a picture of himself in the mirror with his phone to show off his muscles—the general college idiot's selfie, stupid grin and everything—but the thing was he wasn't alone. A copy of himself, a twin even, leered over his shoulder with a too wide, inhuman smile and eyes completely devoid of their white's, as thought the dark pupil had swallowed them whole.

I shuddered and pushed the picture away.

"Needless to say, he's lost quite a bit of weight since this picture," said Naru, as casually as though discussing an interesting medical case in class. "He's failing his classes, he's already lost his place on the soccer team, and he's apparently looking to me as his last resort. No one else will take him seriously and his psychologist is threatening to turn him in for abuse of illegal hallucinogenics, as his brain chemistry tests turned up normal. It's either that, or turn himself in for being legally insane." Naru tucked the photos back into the folder with business-like proficiency. "Thus, our goal is to find out whether he is or not."

"Great. What I always wanted. To be locked away in a room with a crazy person."

"Who said anything about a room? No, spirit or mental state, the symptoms are brought on by triggers in normal day to day life and locking him away from them will do nothing."

"What, so we're going to follow him around?"

"More or less."

I grinned dryly. "I always wanted to be a stalker."


	3. Desperately Not Mad

**So, I've been writing like a maniac and have four extra big chapters on hand and have even read them to my husband, so that means obvious typos are out. So, I have an offer, if you guys are up to it. I can either update each chapter on the weekends, once a week, or we can play another quiz game where every question answered correctly get's a chapter. I check my email multiple times a day so it would be rather instantaneous. Let me know what you guys would like to do.**

 **^.^ I got some good questions too.**

Chapter 2

Hiro Terro turned out to be a lot thinner and paler than his muscley mirror selfie in his case file. He had handsome features, with well set narrow eyes, high cheek bones, and had his hair done with a mix of blond highlights, dark brown, and well styled sweeping bangs. However, with the shadows under his eyes and the obvious unhingement displayed in his bouncing knees and clenched hands, the whole image was ruined.

He did fit well with our office, though, seeing as most of our clients sort of had the same look. Thinking you might be haunted can do that to you.

Lin, Naru, John, and Masako sat in the black seats he wasn't taking up.

"I can't see anything," said Masako. This was the only time she'd be able to help us, as she had a overseas trip to some talk show. She had made it clear to Naru that she did it as a favor to him, as she had had to cancel several appointments just to come in and give the waning stud a look over.

Hiro flinched, as though she had attacked him. "I'm not lying, I swear it. He-he doesn't always come out, though. Usually it's at night or sometimes when I see my reflection." For the third time since he had walked in, he searched the room for any reflective surfaces, but I had pulled down the blinds before he came due to heat.

"I've known of spirits who can hide within others," she said lightly. "And not all of them are apparent to me. For example, it's only been a two or three occasions that I've seen Eugene, though Mai says she sees him frequently. However," she gave him another once over with her dark eyes and sniffed. "It's in my professional opinion that he isn't haunted."

The poor guy seized up as though he had been issued a death sentence.

"Please, I'm not lying—"

"Which you have said about a dozen times since you have entered here," said Naru. "We've heard you. But I need to consider all the evidence. Thank you for your time, Ms. Hara."

Masako bowed her head and stood to leave in a rustle of her lavender kimono. It didn't escape my notice that she took her sweet time in gathering her purse and phone on her way out.

"We could always go with an exorcism right off the bat," I said, looking at John as I said so.

John opened his mouth, but it was Hiro that spoke.

"Already tried that," he said, fingers clenching and stretching sporadically.

"A personage haunting is a bit different than possession," said Naru. "John, you were about to say something?"

"You took the words out of my mouth. Exorcism isn't a precise art. It expels an unwanted spirit or demon within a person, vessel, or residence. However, it's a lot like throwing pain killers at a sick person: while alleviating the symptoms, it doesn't always solve the problem as to why the spirit is there in the first place, which is why exorcism is always proceeded by a strict call to repentance." He eyed our client in a much softer, polite way than Masako. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, but does your life have any, how do I say this…defiling activities or habits? I know you're not Christian, but you should be familiar with the ten commandments."

Hiro blinked at John, but his eyes bounced from one person to another as he said, "I don't understand. What should being a Christian have to do with having a monster on your back? I haven't killed anyone, if that's what you're asking, and I'm not some druggie either."

Naru sighed, and I recognized the usual tick of frustration he usual hid that always came around when dealing with people he thought below the average intelligence. "No matter what your beliefs, participating in activities which ghosts who are more often than not the victims of said activities can make you naturally susceptible, as it targets you as a subject of vengeance or kin spirit."

Hiro just gawked at him. Now I was starting to understand what Naru must feel.

"Um, Hiro—" I started.

"I'll be blunt," said Naru. "Have you slept with more than one woman in the past two months? Have you raped? Drugged? Lied? Stolen? Done something you know your mother would disapprove of?"

"Naru!" Really, we were supposed to be professionals! Jeeze, you'd think this boy wasn't housebroken or something, didn't his own mother ever teach him anything?

But Hiro had started to shake. "Oh no. Oh no oh no, I didn't think—come on, I'm in college! College kids party! Everyone in my dorm knows a booty call or two, why didn't they get possessed? Oh please, save me, I didn't mean to—why is this happening to me—"

I got up to help, but soon found out there wasn't much I could do but flutter my hands towards him and run to the kitchen to make some chamomile tea I kept on hand just for nervous clients like these. I missed the next words John spoke as I filled up the teapot, but our client's breathing had at least calmed a bit.

"Your dorm's visitor policy is three days, correct?" said Naru.

"Yeah."

"Alright. We'll set up the usual sensors in your room, if you wouldn't mind signing a privacy notice. Since this is a personal haunting, things are going to be a bit different than our usual."

"Yeah. Sure. Course. You're all professionals. I'll—I'll let Bobby know, though he should be out for another week or two with his geology group…"

"Also, I'm going to set you up with a small microphone you're to turn on whenever you see this apparition, as well as this bracelet which should monitor your body temperature and the temperature just around you. At the end of each day you are to report back with both microphone and temperature gage for our records."

"Wh-what if I see it—I mean, pictures—it showed up in the picture didn't it?"

"Photo cameras are hardly ever reliable, especially digital." I could hear Naru's frown. "We couldn't find any traces of tampering, though with the program the picture was run though, it would take higher computer know how to dig deeper, so we can't be for sure. I will keep a camera on hand—"

"But you're not going to leave me alone, are you?" His voice had pitched. "Bobby's gone, what if—what if it decides to make its move—what if-"

"You can relax, Mr. Terro. That is why I requested your dorm's policy on visitors. John will be staying with you the three days we'll be giving this case. Also, your human resources secretary has been very kind to lend us a storage room in the basement for a small base. We'll be monitoring the building itself in case your problem has to do with your surroundings. Certain natural gasses and mistakes in building requirements can cause hallucinations in some people. We must explore all possibilities."

Hiro didn't seem to hear the rest of Naru's speech, as he had visibly wilted into his chair with relief when Naru mentioned he'd have a priest staying in his room.

From my corner next to the kitchenette, I couldn't help but notice the reluctance in John's answering smile. He didn't say anything, though, as Naru must have talked to him about this beforehand. I couldn't help but smile as I thought what was going through his head, though. A boy's college dorm. Debauchary, porn magazines, crazy young men little more than teenagers, beer, drugs—John could run into any one of those. But, as a priest, he had been exposed to his fair share of sins, confessions and all that. Didn't mean he had to be comfortable around it. Poor fellow. Ha.

The teapot started to whistle as Lin handed over the release and privacy notices for Hiro to sign. I was careful to set his tea where his jittery hands wouldn't knock it over in his signing.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you, thank you. I will compensate you, I will, I swear it! My parents aren't too happy with it, but they—it is my allowance all the same, and—thank you."

"We will be over this evening," said Naru. "If you feel the need to clean your room for John's arrival, do your best not to change it too much from what it usually is. Your surroundings can be a clue to the triggers that bring about these doppelganger episodes of yours."

"Of course. I'll just—laundry. Um…I hope you don't mind the posters, Father."

I almost laughed at John's grimace.

"Do not worry about me," said John. "I'm here to help you. Try to remember that."

"Of course…of course, I can't forget that. Oh," he had just noticed the tea there and looked up at me. "Thank you, miss."

"Mai," I said, trying to put all the welcome and comfort into my smile that grouchy Lin and Naru and apprehensive John couldn't give. "You say miss I'm going to think I'm some prim and proper lady whacking you with a ruler."

"Oh no, of course not." He looked at me for a moment longer, then took a tentative sip at his tea and returned to his papers.

Once he finished, Naru hooked him up with the little microphone on his shirt (only big enough to allow a button, which Hiro was to push whenever he saw or felt his ghost), and the thick banned bracelet which was to measure his temperatures. Then he left, and Lin and I got to work loading up the van with the help of John.


	4. Posters

**Holy mac, guys, I need to come up with harder quizzes. Jeeze. I hope you're fine with me spacing out the four chapters you have all earned by a good number of hours at least(four and five were sort of the same question). But here are the answers!**

 **1\. Yep! I'm a Mormon!**

 **2\. Polygamist's Down (or Fumarase Deficiency)**

 **3\. Kai Hiwatari**

 **4\. "If there are, we all be dead!"**

 **5\. Princess Bride**

Chapter 3

Posters indeed.

Since Naru was keen on getting my impressions of the room which Hiro was supposedly spending his time in freaking out over a ghost, I got to view what John would have to sleep under for the next three days. Boobs. Boobies, butts, and more skin than I had ever wanted to see on my own sex, all posed in teeny bikinis or nothing at all over motorcycles, sports cars, and, in the case of the largest one that hung over the left of the two beds, a plain of white sheets.

I nearly slapped my hands over my boyfriends face and ran for it. Please don't tell me this was what all college guys were like.

Poor John turned into a tomato.

Needless to say, it was the most belittling, intimidating moment of my life standing in that room next to Naru. There was nothing I could do as my brain mentally compared each woman to myself. It was like comparing night and day, and I ended up huddled next to John, my face equally red. The priest looked back and seemed to take comfort in the fact that I was just as embarrassed as he was.

Naru took it all in as though the posters were pictures of the usual dogs or vacation spots you saw in an office; arms crossed over his chest and shoulders back.

Hiro just smiled sheepishly.

"Um, that's Bobby's side," he pointed to the bed beneath the giant poster of the sprawled out naked girl, dressed in nothing but her hands over her breasts.

Poor John would have to sleep under that. I could feel a roar of laughter fighting from my stomach that would be quite insensitive of me.

Hiro wasn't blind to the growing red on John's face. He had gone from tomato to almost a bruise like red. "You can sleep in my bed, if you want."

The bed on the right side wasn't much better, as it held the majority of the motorcycle girls, but at least he didn't have a nearly life size girl on his ceiling begging to be ravished.

At least the guy had managed to pick up the room, as I could see two laundry hampers stuffed with dirty laundry and some bags of trash.

John turned back to Naru enough to hide the pleading look on his face from Hiro.

Naru raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer I took watch instead?"

"No!" I cried, before I could think better of it. All the men in the room looked at me. I flung my hands over my face.

"I-I-I think I got what I need! Yeah, I'll just, um, go help Lin out."

"I'll be right after you," said John. "There's some heavy equipment you're going to need help with. Thank you for hospitality, Mr. Terro. I'm sure we'll figure out-figure this out in no time."

John didn't wait, though, but nearly ran out on my tail. We walked in silence for a bit as our faces cooled down and I managed to replace the part of me wanting to laugh at John with proper sympathy. A few other boys not in class gave us curious glances as we walked past, but otherwise continued on in their business.

When we finally reached the cool of the stairway, which was one of those cinderblock enclosed flights that served as the fire escape, I pretty much picked a landing and squashed my face against the cool stone. Without the need to laugh, I became confusingly upset.

"John," I asked, trying to hide the squeak to my voice. "Is that what guys are really attracted to?"

His footsteps stopped on the steps below me. "Mai?"

Something in me trembled in a way I couldn't understand. I couldn't quite get why I felt like crying. It wasn't like I hadn't seen that sort of stuff like that on the cover of some magazines that some of the less conspicuous guys at my school tried to read under their desk. But seeing Naru standing in all that, with that frightened, once handsome boy standing in the midst of it all apologetically, and realizing that he wasn't all that different from our client…being still a guy and all…

I was an adult now. I'd have to face that one day, wouldn't I? Marriage…would he be expecting that of me? Would he be picturing that instead of me if he…he ever…

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "No, Mai. The attraction you are thinking of, it's not what those woman illicit. Don't compare yourself with that. The kind of beauty that calls to be loved and cherished isn't in pictures. It's in the soul."

I shook my head and did my best to school my expression into something dry eyed and untroubled. "Sorry about that, I'm fine, just super embarrassed. Is it okay that I kind of wanted to laugh at you the whole time?"

But John didn't smile. He was looking at me with his jaw set and his eyes sad.

"Mai…" he hesitated. In an instant I knew he had caught the unshed tears in my eyes, for he sighed heavily. "Mai, do you know why God considers those things a sin?"

"Not really, seeing as I'm…sort of not Christian…"

"It's because of what's happening to you right now," he said seriously. "Intimacy; it's called love making for a reason. The woman's body is…is made in such a way as to entice men to love her, to stay with her. It's the act of trusting another with everything that makes you, you. It's…it's sacred. Special. And can cause so much harm when abused. What you're feeling right now isn't stupid or silly or oversensitive. It's what happens when you fear for yourself being treated as an object for another's pleasure, rather than cherished as you should be."

I could feel my cheeks reddening as my tears fought to be free. I feared that, if I let him look at me like that for much longer, I really would start to cry, and I still didn't really understand what was going on. It wasn't like Naru was hanging up pictures like that in his office and telling me to go out and get plastic surgery or exercise. And if he wanted that so bad, with his looks, he could have gotten that easily. He loved me for who I was, right?

Right.

"Thanks, John, but we should hurry and help Lin, otherwise our excuse to get out of naked emporium will be for naught."

He suddenly blushed, almost turning back to tomato. "Of course. Sorry, if I made you uncomfortable."

"It's fine, don't stress it. I feel better already." I smiled widely. "Besides, I love you enough to know you meant it to help. You'd never make me uncomfortable. Now, trot trot, let's go!"

I brushed passed him and down the stairs. It wasn't till later that I noticed John had taken a minute or so to follow after me.


	5. Switch and Hair

**Side note-I did not jump ahead in time. This case happens mere weeks after Plain. If you note, in plain it is the spring of her senior year. Since Japan school year ends and begins in spring, it just sort of made sense that she'd graduate. It's just not as big a deal to kids who have already been expected to live like adults (from personal experience). It was weird telling my college professor I had to miss a very important class day because my mom demanded I take the three hour drive back home so she can watch me walk for my high school graduation. T.T**

 **Anyhoo, R &R**

Chapter 4

'Base' turned out to be smaller than ever. The storage room wasn't unused, but all the stuff (desks, old dorm furniture, boxes of unknowns), had been stacked as tightly as it would go against the walls, leaving a space just big enough for one table and three cots side by side and a walking space down the middle. It'd be like one big community bed…with Lin…why did that sound weirder than it really was? It wasn't like Lin snored or anything.

Lin had already gotten the table and a shelf of three monitors set up, with a narrow space underneath for the microphone controls. We wouldn't be able to fit anything else.

Thus, John and I ended up bringing in the cots and bedding, which fitted in just as I expected. Like one big community bed, except with really uncomfortable ridges in the middle where the cot supports and tension was centered.

"We'll need a camera and thermographers set up in the client's room," said Lin flatly. "Along with just a thermographer in his bathroom. Mai, we're going to need some high traffic tape for the extension cords."

"Aye aye, captain!"

Lin blinked at John, who waited expectantly.

"We have this covered, Father. It is our job."

"R-right. I guess I'll, um, go get some dinner than."

I perked. "Oo! Can you get me some? I haven't eaten yet."

"Sure, what do you want?"

"Tacos. Or burgers. Or sushi…no, definitely tacos."

Naru returned almost seconds after John left, so he was able to help me set up the cameras. Hiro had to run to an evening class, leaving Naru and I to bear with the room of women. It was almost as bad as the urine smelling bathroom, which, for some reason, had short, sometimes curly black hair on every surface. I declared that men were absolutely disgusting, which, out of the corner of my eye, made Naru smile.

"Just as a side note," said Naru as he finished setting up the hook in the corner and reached out a hand to receive the thermographer. "I am not this filthy. Untidy, maybe, but not filthy."

"To what extent is this untidiness?" I asked warily, passing up said thermographer.

"You'd have to judge that for yourself. Or you could ask Lin, as we live together." He carefully wired up the camera and his shoes squeaked on the tiled bathroom counter as he turned around to adjust it. "I know why this hair is everywhere, and where it's from, and I can assure you I don't do that."

"Where it's from?"

In answer, he gave me a rare, half-quirked smirk. Something akin to teasing, but a bit more…mischievous? This was a new side of Naru I hadn't seen before. Usually he'd just tell me and then watch me blush so he could call me immature or naïve.

I wasn't stupid. "Men are disgusting."

"Correction: people are disgusting. There, that should do it."

"But how'd it get everywhere?"

"Let's not guess. I do paraphysiology for a reason."

John was back with tacos when we returned. I ate with much gusto, used the tiny toilet and shower tucked away in the janitor's closet to get ready for bed, and set out to get the toothbrush I had forgotten to take in the shower with me. I had just dug it out of my bag when the speakers at the desk clicked on.

" _It's here,"_ said a tremor of Hiro's voice.

"John's up there?" asked Naru. The microphone didn't act like a walkie talkie, so we wouldn't be able to talk with Hiro.

"Should be," I said, trotting forward to hear better, pink toothbrush in hand.

Hiro's breathing had come in loud and was picking up. Lin, who already had his laptop open, pulled up a control panel and pushed record. Naru lifted out of his chair to squint more closely at our three monitors.

"There goes John," he said, as John's figure crossed the room before the eye of the lone video camera. I watched the colors in the other two with Naru. "None of the temperature is dropping though. Lin, how's Hiro?"

"Body temperature is lowering in his extremities and drawing inward. Surface air on skin is room temperature. Common side effect when the body is under stress, but nothing out of the ordinary."

John's voice picked up on the speakers, distant from Hiro's. " _Are you all right?"_

Hiro took a sudden deep, calming breath. There was a pregnant silence.

When he spoke, his nervousness had vanished. For the first time, I thought I could imagine the confident, attractive boy in the mirror selfie.

 _"Yeah, what gave you the idea I wasn't?"_

 _"I thought I heard you speak just now. You didn't sound so good."_

Hiro gave an unexpected short bark of laughter. " _Probably hearing Miktsu in the room next door. Poor sod never sounds good_."

" _Ah, so—"_

The microphone clicked off. I looked from Naru to Lin, both of which were intent on their screens.

"Body temperature returning to normal," said Lin. "Bloodflow must have returned to normal to his extremities. Whatever panic came over him, it's gone."

"And very quick," said Naru.

I shuddered. "Is it really all right to leave John in there with him?"

"John's the only one of us who can perform an exorcism should Hiro become possessed, as we don't know the identity of the ghost. Don't worry, Mai. John can take care of himself."

"Yeah, but…"

Naru glanced back at me, eyebrows bunched together.

"You're sensing something?"

I didn't know if I was. But then, as I thought about, I guess I did. But how could you separate normal anxiety from extra senses?

Naru turned around in his chair and leaned his arms against his legs.

"What's your impression of Hiro?" he asked.

"Um, I feel bad for him."

"But do you feel safe around him?"

I wrinkled my nose. "What woman would feel safe around him with all those pictures in his room? I'm surprised he hasn't leered right in my face and commented on my bra size or something. But…what we just heard right now…" I hesitated, trying to find my words. "He seems…unstable. Who switches that quickly? Not to mention he was a nervous wreck since we met him, and suddenly he's laughing? It's like Joker or something. Like he's…"

"Crazy," said Naru.

I felt bad for thinking of it when Hiro had been so certain that he wasn't, but nodded.

Naru just look back at the monitors. "Is that all? Do you have any other feelings about him?"

"Just pity and a little nervous, yeah."

He held still, eyes to the monitors.

A chill ran through me with one, harsh shake; the feeling they say you get when someone walks on your grave. I glanced around me, but didn't feel afraid or like there was someone else in there.

Naru sighed and stood up with a palm to his eyes.

"I think I'll head to bed," he said quietly. "I've had this headache all day."

I instantly felt concerned. He hadn't mentioned any headache. Then again, Naru was all about keeping pain to himself.

"Would you like any tea before then? There should be enough room here for the electric teapot."

"That would be nice," he said.

Lin didn't move from his station, but continued typing, as I moved past him to pull out the tote under the table and set up the tea. Naru left the room and returned wearing his pajamas with his hand still rubbing at his eyes. I was sure to hand him some painkillers along with his tea, which he took with a quiet thank you before gulping them down. I couldn't help but hover a bit.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.

"It's just a headache, Mai."

Yeah, but usually he didn't head to bed because of a headache. And I couldn't help but think of the last time he had said he needed to lie down years ago and had ended up possessed by a fox.

But he wasn't possessed. He had had that usual 'you're being silly' tone he used with me and everything.

It took me a moment to realize it had to be the residual feelings from hearing the recording. I made to go check on John, but Lin was quick to remind me of the 'no girls after curfew' rule of the dorm, which meant I was stuck here until morning.

Naru finished his tea and curled up in his cot on the far side against some boxes. Lin would sleep in the middle, and I closest to the door. After biting my lip at John's image in the screens (all of which showed him with a pillow over his face), I brushed my teeth and climbed into bed myself.


	6. Insane

**I hate washing dishes. I hate washing silverware especially. So guess why I'm here.**

Chapter 5

 _Mai…Mai…?_

I didn't sleep well. I tossed and turned most of the night and couldn't quite get to that level of sleep where you dream. If morning didn't come so quickly, I would have thought I hadn't slept at all.

So when I got up at sixish (according to my phone), I was surprised to see Naru and Lin still asleep besides me and John sipping some steaming beverage at the monitors, his hair mussed and wearing pajamas. He beamed at me when I plopped down into the chair besides him, hugging my pillow.

"This is a nice surprise. You usually sleep in."

I grunted and smothered my face into my pillow miserably. I heard the chair creak and John set something on the table in front of me. I lifted my head to squint blearily at what turned out to be a Starbucks cup of coffee. I smiled as I picked it up and breathed in the roasted caffeine.

"You're a godsend."

He chuckled. "I try to be."

I took the first hot sip. "What time did you leave to get this? Did you sleep at all?"

John grimaced. "A bit difficult to sleep in my circumstances."

"Ah, the posters—"

"I couldn't really see those in the dark," he said quickly. "It was mostly my roommate. He woke up and moved around a lot last night, and I'm a fairly light sleeper."

"Ahh, guess we're in the same boat then." Another sip. I so loved coffee.

"What about you? Dreams?"

"Actually, I didn't have any. I don't know, I just kept waking up. It was like I couldn't get deep enough asleep."

John shrugged. "Some nights are just like that." Another sip of his drink. "Say, Mai…"

"Still here."

"Would you be up to drawing clothes on those women?"

It took me a few seconds to register both his goofy, but pained smile along with his words. I cackled.

"Why not? It's not like he can sue me for desecrating posters. Too much paperwork."

"Could you two talk any louder?"

An irate Lin sat up, head leveled with his shoulders like a murderous Dracula.

John and I cringed and apologized, just as Naru groaned and sat up as well. He rubbed his head and squinted out between his black bangs. Even with bedhead and frumpled, he still looked too good to be true.

I smiled at him. "Morning, Naru."

My next big surprise for the morning came when he smiled at me too. "Good morning, Mai. John."

I stared. I had been through enough mornings with Naru on cases to know the man was the poster child for grouch until he got his first cup of tea. Junior grouch supreme until his second cup. Normal default grouch after some food.

But, not only did Lin not react to this strange mood, the early morning smile instantly flashed away, as though Naru realized he wasn't having a good dream anymore, and he scowled more appropriately for the ungodly hour.

"Tea, Mai. And for waking me up, I expect it quick."

I relaxed. That was more like normal. I'd have to ask him about whatever dream could make him so loopy afterwards. Oh, and if it was gushy…that'd be fun. "Yeah yeah, boss."

"What are you doing down here, John? I thought you had a college kid to babysit."

"He's off to a swim class," said John. "I'm meeting up with him afterwards to accompany him to his other classes. And I got coffee if you need something now."

Naru grunted, and John handed him another Starbucks mug while I got the electric teapot going. Coffee would only subdue him for so long.

After we had all been caffeined, fed, dressed, and groomed, the three of us set for upstairs to run some tests on the dorm building (foundation, gas tests, etc), while Lin looked over the data from the night before.

"You said he couldn't sleep well?" asked Naru as he set the tester he had borrowed from the public health department on the white plaster walls. "What did he do when he was awake?"

"Stuff?" said John. "Mostly he just went into the bathroom. I don't think he used the toilet, though, because I don't remember it flushing. I think once or twice he left the room."

I looked to Naru to gauge his reaction, but all I saw was steady concentration on the numbers spilling out on the sensor's tiny screen.

"Well," he said, after some time. "I suppose Lin will have something to say about those when we get back. I'm surprised you didn't follow him, John."

John flushed. "I should have thought of that…though I didn't want to unnerve the boy."

"I don't think there's anything you can do to unnerve him even more than he already is," I said, writing down the numbers Naru listed off to me.

"It's not as though he can help it," said Naru. "Sorry fellow, really."

For the second time that morning I had to stare at him. Naru? Empathizing without coercion? Wait, he'd done that before, what was wrong with me? Why was I so thrown off by everything he did? I felt stupid and focused back on my clipboard.

The morning passed by uneventfully, with Naru and readings while I wrote them down while John sat with Hiro during his morning classes. Occasionally a resident would walk by us. A few actually stopped to ask us what we were doing (or rather asked me, as Naru appeared too busy), and I answered them as briefly as I could. The lack of sleep was starting to get to me, and I could feel my head bobbing.

At one point I found myself being tapped out of a light drowse against a wall by Naru, who didn't look pleased.

"Please don't sleep on the job."

"Sorry," I rubbed my eyes hard. "I didn't sleep so well."

"At least try to stay awake until we finish here. Mr. Terro should be getting here in a few hours, you can sleep then."

We finished an hour or so before noon, and with John's return we decided to take an early lunch.

Hiro turned on his microphone about then, filling the room with the sound of his hyperventilation.

" _Save me. Please. Oh god…"_

"Of course, right after you leave," I said to John.

John and Lin ran off to catch up with him while Naru and I kept an eye on his temperature as well as the recording. I could have probably done it by myself, but Naru seemed reluctant to leave me.

"Knowing you, you'd probably miss something in your half-asleep state." He leaned across me to push the record button on the laptop. "Like that."

"I'm sorry, I thought I started it when it turned on, or…" A wide, jaw popping yawn cut me off.

 _"His eyes-oh God, can't you hear him? No, I don't—I can't let you do that—no, please stop."_

A walkie-talkie buzzed on. " _Naru, he's not in the Humanities bathroom_."

 _"Please! Help me! Why won't somebody come?"_

Naru picked up the walkie talkie and clicked it on. "He must have gotten it wrong. Check the nearby bathrooms. Maybe there's one on the lower floors that's less known."

" _Will do._ "

The temperature readings on the human body outline on the computer screen registered a drop in temperature in his extremities, just like the last time, as panic set in.

Then the microphone clicked off.

Staying awake became the last of my problems. "You don't think a spirit's interfering—"

"No," said Naru, his eyes to the computer. Then, he intertwined his fingers and leaned his chin on them. "No, there's no spirit."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Let me gather some more evidence before I say. I'd like to be sure."

Ten tense minutes passed in which the walkie-talkie stayed still and warmth slowly bled back into the human figure's limbs. I pointed out that at least that meant he was okay, but Naru's grim expression didn't change. He even started to clench and unclench his jaw.

Finally, Lin checked back in.

 _"Found him. He seems fine enough. Pretty chipper, even."_

Naru didn't reach for the walkie talkie. I waited for him to, expected him to in order to ask the vital question. When he didn't, I took a chance and picked it up myself.

"What does he say happened?"

There was a pause before Lin buzzed back in. " _A panic attack. He says nothing is wrong and—"_

Suddenly, Hiro's voice bubbled over the wavelength.

" _Sorry Miss Mai, I didn't mean to worry you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? You're awfully cute, you know that?"_

Every hair on my body went on end.

Naru tugged the walkie talkie out of my grip then, thankfully. "If you would please return that to my assistant. This line is for work, not for flirting."

Flirting? Since when did Naru even give any recognition to flirting?

A whole new sense of unease flittered through me. I examined him carefully as he finished with Lin and received the report from Hiro that nothing had happened before checking out and leaning back in his chair.

"This isn't working," he said quietly. "That kid should be in a psyche ward. There simply isn't any evidence of a spirit."

"What are you talking about? He sounds like he's possessed."

"The body exhibits certain signals when possessed through the temperature. So far, none of that has registered."

"Like what? Does it get cold spots or something?"

Rather than humor me, he leveled a familiar 'you're an idiot' glare on me. "I don't feel up to explaining. Lin and John aren't exactly safe as long as they're with him, as unstable as he is."

"But he hasn't done anything violent yet—"

"Yet," he broke in, sliding the laptop over to him. "Mai, how about you take a nap? Those shadows beneath your eyes make you look like a ghost."

My heart pitter pattered like the twitching of a humming bird. I rolled my lips into my mouth and breathed through my nose, slowly.

"Naru…are you alright?"

"What makes you ask?" He kept his eyes to the laptop, minimizing the window with Hiro's temperatures and opening up a documents menu where we kept our data on the current case.

"You've been acting kind of…weird this morning."

He paused to glance at me. "How so?"

"I'm not sure. Just…it's just sort of a feeling."

His eyes jumped as they looked from one of my own to the other, than down my face, reading, examining. Somehow, the very Naru action calmed me and I began to regret saying anything at all and ducked my chin in embarrassment.

"Mai…" he sighed, then turned around in his chair. "I'm sorry, I didn't sleep too well last night. Got some very strange dreams, I'm sorry if I've unnerved you…and I'm sorry for…how I've treated you. I might have been too terse."

I smiled weakly. "Only someone like you would use the word 'terse' in this situation."

He looked at me a minute more, lips pressed, before seeming to make a decision and closing the laptop.

"Perhaps a nap may do us both some good," he said. He then picked up the walkie talkie. "Lin, John. I think it best we should get Hiro to somewhere with a catscan. His medical records I just pulled up only said he had a blood test, he should get something more extensive than that."

A moment of silence. Then, " _He says he doesn't have any health insurance."_

"Shouldn't be a problem. The hospital in this area runs a student assistance program. Express it is in his best interest. I have reason to believe he may be having a rare mental reaction to the use of methamphetamines."

Another pause, before, " _He seems confused. Says he only ever tried it once, that he's not a meth head."_

Naru smirked, pleased with himself. "Parties, my friend. Always the first place of experimentation. One time is all it takes for someone with the right genes. If he won't go with you, then let me know. I'll call his parents."

 _"Will do."_

My skin was prickling again. I heaved a sigh of relief, however. A nice, quick case. I hadn't even gotten stuck in a hospital. I could get use to this.

Naru stuck the walkie talkie in the charger with a covered yawn. "Dopplegangers. Guess they're still simply a myth. This case couldn't have gotten over sooner."

"How'd you solve it so quick?" I asked.

"I'd only like to say it once, so let's wait until John and Lin get back. There's a lot of details and…" another big yawn and a quiet curse. "A nap. Yes. You should get some rest too, Mai. There isn't much we can do until they get back."


	7. Crash and Stolen Kiss

**I've been feeling the itch to write a post apocalyptic story, but no characters have bothered speaking to me yet. I guess I just have to wait until one of them deems me worthy to talk to. It's not the ideas, I got plenty of those. It's my muse. Stephen King can describe his as this seedy, grungy fellow in a basement. I wonder what mine's like. Kind of like an annoying little sister...**

 **And here is your fourth chapter! I have held up my end of the bargain. ^.^ Please pretty please let me know what you think in return while I work on the next chapters. Who knows, maybe I'll push out a bunch and we can even have another quiz! If you guys even like that, that is...I am here to please.**

Chapter 6

When John and Lin returned a few minutes later, however, Naru got caught up contacting our client's family and sending them the results of our tests. I didn't actually watch this, as I was excused to go home, and since my house was but a bus ride away, I gladly took it. Sleeping on a cot wasn't exactly pleasant, and I had an unhealthy attachment to my futon.

He did have the time, however, to show me his resources that matched up all of Hiro's symptoms with that of a certain kind of neurological reaction to the brain that sometimes happened when meth got added to the mix. It came out to a sort of mental implosion, since so many neurotransmitters were released at once. He backed up the symptoms with the reports on Hiro's temperature readings and behavior, as well as some testimonials from his roommates and old friends. He must have gotten them sometime the day before.

Thus, when I returned home, it was almost six, so I ate dinner and fell into bed sometime after seven.

When I opened my eyes to the morning sunshine, I was hit with the distinct impression had missed something, like a homework assignment. The case was supposed to take three days, and Hiro had looked so desperate to be believed. I sat up and rubbed my eyes hard as I struggled to think.

A squeal—and my TV crashed face first next to me.

I jumped. "What the, I thought I had—"

Suddenly my couch started to screech as its wooden feet dragged against the wood floor, than tipped onto its side, nearly squashing me. The faucet in the sink turned on full blast, and mugs pushed open their cupboards and started falling out.

I screamed. I couldn't stop long after all my mugs had shattered and the water turned off. My couch had been tipped forward, so the top of its backrest had landed an inch away from my leg, essentially pinning me under my comforter between my fallen TV and itself.

Birdsong drifted through the windows like a bad song choice to a funeral.

When one of my neighbors pounded on my door, sounding nigh hysterical with concern, I almost started screaming again. At first I was unsure that my legs would support me, but I managed to wiggle out from my pita pocket-made comforter and wobble to the door on weak knees.

Mrs. Toto, a retired school teacher, stood on the landing, eyes wide.

"Good gracious, are you all right?"

I blinked hard. The wild heartbeat in my ears had made it hard to hear her, and the adrenaline still in my blood made my thoughts a bit too wired to answer instantly.

"I…I'm fine, just got woken up by my TV falling on me…"

She put a hand to her wrinkled lips. "Oh goodness, it wasn't too big, was it? I heard glass breaking."

"Yeah, I might have a bit of a bruise," I lied quickly. "One of those old tube TVs, you know?"

"Well, at least you have an excuse to invest in a flat screen, right?"

"Yeah…yeah…"

After making sure I hadn't been raped or cut or whatever, she finally allowed me to close my door, and just in time as a few of my other neighbors in my apartment complex were making their way towards my door. Certain Mrs. Toto would explain about the TV, I locked my door and faced the minefield of broken ceramic pieces. My phone was on the counter where I had left it, and my broom was on the far side of said minefield.

Somehow, I managed to get both phone and broom with minimal cuts to my feet. My fingers shook as I dialed Naru's number.

He picked up sounding mildly concerned about my welfare for once.

"Mai?"

"N-Naru?" I took a deep breath. This was just a few shattered mugs. Ooooh, but that TV had been expensive! "Could you come over?"

"You don't sound well. What happened?"

"I think you should see for yourself."

At least I had the mind to change, as he was over in under ten minutes. I had just the time to begin sweeping the floor.

"What the…"

"It just happened," I said, more calm now than when I had called him. "Well, it happened right after I woke up. The TV just toppled off, my couch tipped over, the water turned on—"

"Give me the broom. You aren't wearing shoes."

"I think there's something in my house." I handed him the broom. "But—but I—the only ghost's I've seen that were able to do something like this were really powerful, or really..."

He shooed me away from the ceramic war zone with a frown and set to work. I watched him from atop my futon before I shook myself and moved to righting the couch, which landed back on its feet with a bang that made me wince. Hopefully that wouldn't summon Mrs. Toto back over.

"Has anything else happen like this before?" The ceramic tinkled as he brushed it into the dustpan.

"No. Not at all. I've never even heard of anything being haunted in this area. It's not new, but it's not that old either."

His frown deepened. He kept glancing at how close the couch and TV had fallen onto my futon and his lips paled as he pressed them together tightly.

Once my couch was back in place, I turned to my poor TV, which hadn't the fortune to fall on my fluffy futon. I had to turn it on to see the extent of the damage to the LED screen. Rainbows of cracks marred the entire screen, and I groaned.

"Sherlock…" I whimpered.

"I'm surprised some modern artist hasn't made artwork of broken LED screens yet," said Naru from the kitchen, having glanced up as he poured ceramic into my trashcan.

"Probably because even small screens like this are $250 a pop. Aw, man…"

"I can get you a new one."

"Could you? Wait, what's the catch?"

"Catch?" he had his back to me as he used the broom to dig ceramic from beneath my little fridge.

"You're always making jabs at how much Netflix I watch. Why'd you offer to invest in a new TV?"

He hunched down to sweep up more glass into the dustpan, stood, and sighed.

"Can't I just get you something because I like you?"

"Because you don't just get me something because you like me. I mean…" I hesitated. Wait…I did want a new TV, right?

He seemed to catch my smile, for the corner of his mouth twitched. "You can't afford a new TV, though, can you?"

I leveled a finger at him with a scowl. "Stop making this light business. My house just threw itself apart, this is serious business!"

"Course, though it isn't as though it's much of a mystery." He tapped the last of the ceramic shards out of the dustpan and snapped it back onto the broom. "There's a spirit haunting you. Specifically you. Much like Hiro thought one was haunting him. Unless there was a small scale earthquake I and your neighbors were unaware of."

Guess Mrs. Toto was still yapping away outside with the others when Naru arrived, then.

"You say that so lightly," I said. "Aren't you worried about my welfare?"

He came around the counter and said, as he searched the floor for any stray shards, "I would be concerned with the amount of damage one spirit was able to do. That being said, with this much power, it could have easily killed you. Thus, I think it's only trying to get your attention. Now that it has it, it should quiet down."

I cocked my head to the side. "You're awful sure of yourself this morning."

Naru smirked his trademark grin. "There's a lot to be sure of."

Still none too appreciative of his casual treatment of the shock that nearly made me wet my pants (okay, so I had to change my underwear afterwards), I took up my pillow and chucked it at him.

"Don't make me take a needle to your head."

He caught the pillow and made a jerking motion. Next thing I knew, I had a face full of pillow that tipped me onto my back.

"I also have marvelous aim, so be careful who you challenge."

Without thinking, I chucked it back at him and snatched up my purple body pillow to defend myself. It wasn't until he had taken a step forward, pillow raised, smile widening, that I got suspicious as to why Naru would be so jovial after getting called over by his panicked girlfriend and finding a rogue ghost tearing apart her house.

It only took a few thwacks before he had disarmed me and crushed his mouth to mine. In an instant I could taste what I had not seen, and his hands dug into my hair with a painful desperation. I opened myself to him, concerned by his strange behavior and the fear I tasted, and soon found myself pressed into my futon. For the first time I could feel every bit of his firm body against mine, lining my legs, pressing into my chest, and eliciting heat from my stomach and hips.

He kissed me with a strange, tender hunger, as though if he stopped he might cry. His hot hands dug beneath my shirt and ran beneath to the latch of my bra strap.

Alarmed, I let out a strangled noise and pushed at him. He pulled back, but not after sweeping his tongue in to taste me.

"Naru—"

My throat locked. Every inch of my skin prickled. My insides turned to ice.

His face was flushed, eyes bright, panting through open lips.

And I finally saw it.

"You're not Naru."


	8. Placing Blame

**Alright, I got three chapters other than this one, but coming up with quizzes is tricky because I have to come up with a question you can't google, but you can still answer. So if some of my questions are about myself, I swear I'm not narcissistic. Some of the answers are just given in my stories or author notes.**

 **So...**

 **1\. What is my cat's name?**

 **2\. It's so relaxing to be on the water... (What happens after this line?)**

Chapter 7

Naru would never just start picking up my apartment if it got torn by a ghost. He'd tell me to leave it as evidence. He wouldn't have offered to buy me a TV, he would have quizzed me mercilessly on the event until I felt like an imbecile and said good riddance to the TV while marching me out of the house and to the office to contact one of our exorcists or even gotten a camera. Naru would have never made a hypothesis on a situation before even getting all the facts—and he would have especially not just trusted one source—me—as enough to drop a possible case.

And Naru most definitely didn't have pillow fights right afterwards, nor would he have started kissing me, especially if he was anxious or afraid. No, because he would have walled up any sort of 'weakness' and set doggedly to work on fixing the problem. He also had a thing with never even going near my futon when I was on it, let alone getting his hands beneath my clothes and up to my bra strap.

Whoever was above me, with the weight of his hips still holding mine down, frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

Acidic and cold fingers clawed up from my thighs and made it hard to breathe. "Get off."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"I said _get off_."

Thankfully, he did so, and I scrambled away like a crab until I hit the wall, sending a few of my favorite mystery novels onto the floor with solid 'thumps.'

At the wide eyed, lip biting look he gave me, it hit me like a train, nearly knocking the breath out of me with equal amounts of relief and fear.

"Gene?"

He flinched back as though I'd thrown a rock at him. "Mai—"

"Gene? Eugene Davis?"

"Mai, I can explain—"

But I didn't care.

"What the _hell_ are you doing in Naru's body? What the hell are you— _you kissed me!_ "

"Mai—"

"You lied to me! You were pretending to be him since—since—"

"Please calm down, I have my reasons—"

"Reasons!?" I shrieked. "Did you just send a boy to the psyche ward?!"

He drew back into his shoulders like a turtle. "Like I'd have the power to do that, I just said—"

"So it _was_ you!? Damn it, Gene, did you even have an idea—"

"Yes! That kid really isn't possessed, I could see it! Please Mai, for the love of God, please just let me explain!"

But I had started throwing things at him, first my nearby slippers and then my notebook and pens. He threw his arms over his head.

"Possessing Naru is one thing, screwing up a client's case is another, but freaking pretending to be him to take advantage of me-!"

"I wasn't taking advantage of you, I swear!"

"Then why in damn hell were you—"

" _I love you!_ "

The last thing I threw, a light paperback novel, thwacked against his shoulder and flopped pages first across some of my pens.

A pregnant silence fell onto the room like the roof had caved in. Somewhere in that, my fridge turned on and started to hum.

Gene peeked above his arm. When I continued to not react, he cautiously lowered it and said, "I love you, Mai."

Something warm squirmed in my gut. Maybe I should feel flattered. Pleased, even.

But, somehow, that just made me angrier.

"Did Naru let you do this?" I asked.

"Um…yes and no?"

" _What?!"_

He raised his hands in panic. "Please, Mai, everything is okay. Look, it isn't like I stole his body, we're identical twins, so genetically speaking, this is my body too—"

"What the hell gave you that stupid idea? That's Naru's and you know it! Is that how you justified possessing it?"

"I'm not possessing him!" he cried, at last flashing anger of his own. "Like I told you, there's no difference between our bodies genetically, so he isn't here. It really is me!"

"What do you mean he isn't here?" A sharp icicle of ice pierced my stomach, pitching my voice high near the end.

"He just isn't," he said impatiently. "Look, I'm just taking my turn. He's the one keeping me back, so it isn't like I'm taking anything from him or that he doesn't deserve it."

"Deserve what? What have you done with him, Eugene?"

"Woa, full name now."

I threw another novel at him, which he caught, eyes hot. I hissed, "Don't you patronize me, where's your brother?"

The heat in his gaze snapped and darkened. His jaw clenched and his lips curled.

"I thought you of all people would understand, but you didn't even pause to think of me, you're just concerned with my stupid brother, who wasn't even murdered like I was. I said I loved you, and you throw books at me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Along with the sudden prickle of guilt his hurt inflected in me, I also felt just a twinge of fear as my instincts kicked in. Something wasn't right here. Over the three years in which I had known Gene and been visited by him in my dreams, he had never displayed such…

I lowered the third novel I had been about to throw. "Gene…"

"Forget it." He dropped the book he had caught and jumped to his feet. "Just forget it. I don't want to hear it."

"Gene! Don't you walk out on me!"

But my studio apartment was quite small, and he was across it and out the door by the time I had finished that sentence. He even slammed the door behind him, which made the silverware rattle in its drawer and my wall clock to swing a bit.

Heart pounding, panic twining about my stomach so quick I felt sick, I scrambled to my cell phone.

Lin didn't pick up. Nor did Takigawa, who had to be busy with his band's tour through Hokkaido (thus the reason he hadn't come with us to help out Hiro).

On the third ring, John picked up.

"John, he's gone Gene—I mean Naru, Gene's got Naru! He's taken over his body and says it's his and—"

"Woa, slow down, Mai, I can't understand you. What's happened to Naru?"

I more or less blubbered the story to him, but I managed to get it out. To his credit, John handled it with as much cool and professionalism as I should have dealt with it. He asked where Naru was now, but I couldn't guess heads or tails to that, let alone if he was even in his body still. Gene had insisted he wasn't, but you didn't just kick out a spirit from its body. That would be the same as—

"—killing him," said John. "That is the definition of death, isn't it? When the spirit leaves the body."

That put me into all sorts of fits, ending up with only the earpiece up to my face and the mouthpiece of my phone high and above so John wouldn't hear me hyperventilating.

Naru couldn't be dead—Gene wouldn't do that, he'd never…

"It's been three years since Gene was murdered," said John over the line. "Even in that amount of time, if it's true he traveled around with you, he could have been exposed to…oh Lord, all our cases, all those…"

A stray memory floated across my mind from our last case. _People are evil._

"Have you tried to call any of the others?"

I gulped for a calm enough breath to squeak, "Lin and Takigawa."

"Mai, breathe, Naru's going to be alright. He always is, this is Naru we're talking about."

"But how can we—what if we can't figure it out? I don't even know why Gene's been held back. What if he—what if Naru really is holding him back?"

"How? Why?"

I didn't know. A twin thing? But then that'd mean every twin whose other died would have a ghost hanging around them and there'd at least be some sort of legend off of it. Besides, Naru had made it very clear that he had no power to hold him back.

"John…" I clenched my eyes when his name came out as a whimper.

He breathed out slowly over the phone. But he didn't let the quiet stay for long.

"Just focus on breathing, okay? I'll come pick you up and we'll check out the main office. Do you know where Lin lives?"

"I can walk."

"Will you be okay?"

I tried to snort, but it came out as some miserable choking noise. "My legs work fine. I'll meet you at the office."

"Alright. See you soon."

I hung up. But, being kind to myself, I gave me a minute to curl into my knees in the corner and sob for him before picking myself up, wiping off my face, and getting on my big girl pants.

 **And please let me know what you think of the story so far!**


	9. Non-Naru Investigations

**Give a big thanks to that random guest reviewer! My cat's name is Jim! The only cat I believe I've written about here on fanfic is Yami's pet cat, Jim, in Erase Me, a Yugioh fanfiction. I do try to be fair in my quiz questions, so you'll often find the answers in my stories here on fanfiction (since that's often what I think of when I try to come up with non google-able questions). They're also often the lines to general geek culture movies and animes (another strategy I have for non google-able questions).**

 **And in case your curious, Jim is a freaking weirdo. He doesn't much care for being pet or for curling up on your lap like an ordinary cat. He'll probably nip at you. What he loves is to be carried around on his back like a baby ALL DAY and have his chin pet. Unfortunately, he's huge and fat, so it'd break my back to even attempt that. Not to mention his mounds of long grey hair would get into absolutely everything I do.**

Chapter 8

John was a priest, though he did have a day job working as a janitor at some company building or other. Either one didn't pay mucho monies, so when he pulled up in an ugly little two door Toyota that had been built in that nebulous period where everything had to be square and nude colored, I wasn't surprised. In fact, I was in love. Fugly old things sort of demanded that.

Inside there were tears and stains on the carpet and seats, but otherwise was kept meticulously clean. A half opened vanilla air-freshener tree dangled from the rearview mirror, along with what looked like a rosary.

"Um, I hope you have enough room. I can't really move the seat, though it kind of slides forward when I brake…not too much, but…"

As I noticed when I looked back and saw a plastic crate in the back seat foot well holding the seat in place.

John had a worried sort of smile I couldn't differentiate between self-conscious or concern for me, so I returned it the best I could and slid in to the front seat. The seat belt slid out smooth, well oiled and cared for.

"Are you sure it's Gene?" asked John, as we pulled out from my apartment complex.

"Sure as I could be. Him and Naru might be identical, but their expressions…"

John waited for me to finish the sentence, but nodded his head in understanding when I didn't.

"So, any idea of what to do if we can't find him?" he asked. "You know him best…"

"I don't know him that well. There's only so much you can glen about a person when they're dead and leading you through visions of other dead people or in some dark foxfire place."

"How about his relationship with Naru?"

I blanked. The most important question of them all, and I didn't know. I dug my fingers through my hair, scouring my memories for any time Naru had come up.

"He doesn't seem to…hate him." I recalled his wry grins whenever he mentioned that 'idiot scientist.' "He's fond of him. He likes to tease him, I think, but Naru's just ridiculously fun to tease."

"Really?" John looked honestly surprised.

"You're not really the teasing type, Father."

"Granted," he flicked on his turn signal. "And you've never seen Gene's reaction to Tokyo. Maybe we should try to imagine what someone who'd want another chance at life would do if they found themselves with said chance."

I didn't say anything, remembering the velvet need and fear moving against my mouth. Gene had already done those things. No, the question we should be asking was what Gene did when he was upset. I scoured through my memories again. When he had been worried, he had simply warned me, grim as Naru. That was probably the time the brother's looked the most alike: grim, concerned, serious. But he wouldn't be that now.

 _People are evil._

He had been afraid then. I touched my lips. He was afraid now.

"He's not going to be at the office," I said.

John had just pulled along the sidewalk outside SPR's office.

"I'll look just to be sure, then?"

I nodded, and the driver's side door closed behind him. I watched him walk up the steps and disappear up the stairs. Only seconds after the A/C was off (this car had A/C, figure that), sweat started beading on my forehead and I opened my door a crack.

Gene wouldn't go to Lin, would he? That just ran the risk of someone else recognizing that he wasn't Naru, and he had acted his brother for good reason. He knew us well enough—or rather, knew me well enough—to know the moment we realized Naru's body wasn't his own that we'd exorcise him. Even though Gene had insisted he hadn't possessed Naru, what else was there? So where would Gene have gone? Somewhere no one would recognize Naru. Somewhere entirely and utterly unlike Naru, so he could stand as only himself…

I grinned. There we go. I was becoming quite the detective.

John caught my smile before sliding back into the driver's seat.

"Where to?" he asked.

"There's a movie theater a few streets from my house. I'll give you directions. It's the only one for miles."

He looked at me questionly as he started up the fugly Toyota.

"Have you ever seen Naru watch a movie? Or anything other than computer monitors?"

John frowned. "The fellow's always been partial to books in his free time, but I had supposed he'd taken you to one or two films on your dates. General dating material, right?"

"Nope. He hates TV. Says it rots your brain. He's always getting on me for watching Netflix."

John blinked, followed my finger to take two rights, before understanding lit up his face.

My hands had actually started to sweat when we pulled into the Red 6 Cinema. I hadn't thought of what I'd say if I found him. It wasn't like he'd just come along with whatever I said, and it was very possible he'd see John and run.

"Maybe you should stay here," I said to John, who didn't look pleased.

"Mai, this can't be safe."

"But he knows you're a priest. If he runs, I won't have a clue where he goes. I'm not Naru. That being said, he might not be here at all, so I'm leaving plan B up to you. Besides, we need to keep trying to get a hold of the others. Heaven knows the kind of chaos he could start up if he gets a hold of them first and convinces them I'm the crazy one or something—happens all the time in movies, at least."

John bit his lip, his brow screwing up to argue, but he nodded, slid back into his car, and flipped open his phone.

"How long should I wait before going in for you?" he asked.

"Ten minutes?"

"Ten?"

"Come on, John, I've never done this sort of thing before."

"…Ten it is, then. And Mai?"

I glanced back as I turned. John's expression was almost pained.

"Do you have that crucifix I gave you?"

I slipped it out from beneath my shirt, where it had been resting between my breasts. The pained worry leaked from his face in a whooshing sigh. I rolled my eyes.

"Please, John, this is Gene we're talking about. He's my friend."

John shook his head and put the phone to his ear. We exchanged one last look before I set across the parking lot to the glass doors. I twisted the hem of my skirt in my hands as the late spring sunshine prickled sweat on my brow once more. This was how it should have been on my graduation day.

The air condition whooshed into my face with the warm, buttery smell of popcorn. My eyes only had to adjust a little, and the brightly lit concession stands suddenly made the idea of possessions and death ridiculous. I let go of my skirt and went through the empty line to the smiling employee. When I gave Naru's description, her coworker barked a laugh and she became visibly sheepish.

"Are you his girlfriend?" she asked.

"No."

She visibly relaxed, which didn't surprise me, as I could just see the effect a smiling, social Gene would have on the surrounding folk. Her big eared, horsey faced coworker snickered over popcorn as she told me the movie and seat and allowed me to go on the promise I'd be back within ten minutes.

Ten must be my lucky number today.

The movie was a title I hadn't heard of, but by the title and the movie poster I saw in the hallway, it was probably a run of the mill gun and car action movie. Something to do with spies.

Since it was little after noon on a Monday, his head was the only one in the cinema. He didn't notice me as I weaved through the seats to his side. For a moment I saw Naru, and the urge to throw my arms around him rose up in me like a heave of sour air.

"Gene?"


	10. Murderer

**Ding Ding Ding Ding! Very good. I got all but question 3 answered! You guys are so great, that was fun! So, you got four of the last chapters coming your way. Please be sure to let me know what you think of them. I love the reviews I've gotten so far, they're more than I expected! I mean, really? These are like the Ghost Hunt episodes? Bam! I did something right! That's so encouraging.**

 **Anyhoo, here are the answers:**

 **1\. Brown (or bronze, which is pretty close)**

 **2\. Fuzzy Chewbacca**

 **4\. The shortest Gerudo with light orange hair in "The Opal and The Genie"**

 **5\. Renge in "Ouran High School Host Club" with Tamaka's teddy bear dressed up as Kirimi.**

 **There's still question 3 to be answered, so there's still one more chapter up for the grabbing. Thanks again for playing with me!**

Chapter 9

He didn't look at me. Just kept his cheek resting on his knuckles, elbow on the arm rest.

I sat next to him. After a moment's debate, I tentatively rested my fingers on his hand.

"Gene…you know this isn't right."

The hand twitched, but otherwise he didn't move. The stillness of his face unnerved me.

A sudden explosion on the screen lit up the theater like orange lightning. The man on the screen dove in slow motion and managed to roll behind a dumpster.

"He would've hated this movie," he said in a pause not filled with roaring air.

"Did he like any movie?" I asked, unable to help my curiosity.

The corner of his mouth twitched as though to smile. "He'll hate me for saying, but…he loved this weird little known film called _A Little Princess_ when he was a kid."

I blanched. "You're joking. I always thought he'd like horrors, right?"

The smile spread to half of his mouth now. "Nah, he thought those were comedies. No one could get properly scared with him cackling and repeating lines. No. You probably know he isn't much for TV."

" _A Little Princess?"_ I screwed up my face. "With frilly dresses and—"

"Oh, the title is misleading. It's actually not that girly of a movie, surprisingly. It's about this girl who get's sent to a boarding school so her father can go to war, where he ends up dying, so she ends up as a servant, more like a slave. She keeps herself up through stories though, and, in the end, she finds her father alive and with amnesia and manages to get his memories back." The smile slid away. "Says a lot about Noll…if you think about it…"

Another explosion, accompanied by a rain of puttering gunshot, filled our silence. I wondered how many minutes had passed.

"Gene…" I started, hesitantly. "It's not right…"

"Excuse me, Mai, but how could you know? You've never died." He yanked his hand from my touch, all signs of softness gone and his face once more cold and still. "You've never been murdered. You've never been a ghost."

"But Naru's still alive—"

"No he's not. He's dead. It's me now."

My blood ran cold and my heart skipped a beat. "I'm not stupid, Gene."

"You must be, because I'm telling the truth. What do you think death is, anyways? Destruction? Is it when your heart stops beating? Or is it when you walk that plain of foxfires? But you don't know, having never died."

My hands had started shaking so hard, I had to clamp them between my thighs to keep them from shaking my whole body. He must have noticed, as he turned his face to me for the first time, and I saw a ripple of the compassion that was so unique to him. So easily moved.

I snatched at that and didn't bother hiding the despair from my voice. "Please, Gene, I love him."

That had been the wrong thing to say.

The compassion twisted to something new, something pained, angry, and far too desperate for comfort.

I had to strain to hear his low words past the yelling on the screen.

"I'd take better care of you. I wouldn't be as insensitive or cold, I'd understand your feelings, I'd better understand you. He might try hard now, but give him a year and he'll vanish into his work, you know that. He's a workaholic, he loves his world of facts. He says he's not comfortable with romance, but all romance is is being thoughtful and involved in another person's well being. He's arrogant, he's narcissistic—you know that. And I would _love you_ for all the days of my life. I'd do everything to make you happy, I'd never forget what you mean to me, I'd put you first—"

He was talking about all of this as though it had already passed, as though we were all already dead.

"Gene—"

He had taken up my hand again, but it felt clammy against my fingers.

"Naru's gone," he said. "He's gone. I told you, we're identical twins, this is my body too. Please…"

I tugged my hand from his grasp. "If that's true, why are you so desperate for me to accept you? How would that change anything?"

"Because I love you—"

"How could you?" I couldn't help how the words snapped out like wire. "You're dead. Do you even know how long you've been dead? You said in that plain that time was irrelevant, so do you even know how old I am?"

He scoffed. "Of course I do. You're fifteen."

"Look closer, Gene. I'm eighteen."

That cold stillness came over him. The gunshots on the screen abruptly died, leaving the crouched protagonist crouched behind his new shelter, gun in hand. Cautiously, he peered around the corner. His pursuers had vanished. It was like they'd been spirited away.

"I don't see how that matters," he whispered.

"Then how about this," I said, my words spilling out of my mouth quicker than I could consider them. "You say I don't know death, but do you know life? What makes you alive? If you can't feel time, if you can't breathe and smell and contemplate the things that pass without your thoughts blurring into one another—affected by every other that passes through you-how could you possibly love me?"

"Because I've watched you, I know you—"

"How? Have you ever seen me eat? Ever seen me watch _Sherlock_? Ever seen me _live_? That plain of foxfires isn't like a movie theater, despite how many times you've lead me into it like it was one."

He ducked his chin and scowled in a way more violent than Naru could have ever managed. "This isn't philosophy, Mai. Naru's gone, and my life will mean nothing if none of you will even accept me for who I am."

"I thought we were talking about me?"

With a grunt of frustration he pushed himself out of the folding seat, his half-lit face sharp, angry, un-Naru.

"Go away, Mai. Just go away."

But I stood as well. We had yet to touch upon the most important thing, and he couldn't go until I said it.

"Why didn't you pass on?" I asked.

"I already told you, Naru held me back—"

"You know just as well as I that he had no power to do that. He isn't even a spiritualist."

"He didn't want to hold me back, it's just his very existence."

"Gene," I grabbed his wrist as he moved to leave. "You've forgotten, haven't you?"

"Let go."

"You stayed behind for Naru, why? I know you love him, I can see it in the way you talk about him—"

"Mai, I warn you—"

"—if what you say is true and he really is gone, you've murdered him, Gene. You got that? You're a murderer!"

So quick I hardly saw it, his wrist ripped from my grasp and he lashed out, slapping me, twisting up his other fist in my shirt, pushing me over the next row of seats. Even as he did it, I kept my eyes open, watching the terror that wracked him, twisted him, and the contrast of his black hair against his white skin made all the worse by the bleached lighting of the movie screen.

" _…tell a man the truth, and he shoots at you. How's that for poetry?"_ said the protagonist on the screen. I heard a click of a gun and, for a brief, horrifying moment, with my back cringing from the cold floor, leg smarting from where it had caught between two seats, skirt nearly flipped up to my chest, and cheek throbbing in time with my spinning head, I thought Gene had gun.

But his hands were empty and open over the back of the seats.

His tortured expression would haunt my nightmares and quiet moments forever. He lifted his arms out, as though to fly, or though he was suddenly horrified that they were attached to him.

"Mai…" It came out a strangled choke."What in the…I…"

"In the name of Jesus Christ our God and Lord-"

Gene jumped wildly. John's voice broke through the rumbling ambiance of the movie like a bell on a winter morning.

"—strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of god—"

Gene was crashing into movie seats, stumbling out into the aisle.

"—of the Blessed Michael the Archangel—"

But the theater door had already slammed against the wall. Gene was gone.

And John was rushing to my side as I unstuck my legs from between the seats.

"Mai! Are you alright?"

"Forget me, get Gene!"

"He's got longer legs than me, Mai, he's probably out of the building by now. He's gone."


	11. Lost and Milkshake

**Reward chapter 2/4. R &R, homies. **

Chapter 10

Takigawa answered his phone while John and I drove around the area for any signs of Gene. Lin was the one who called me, though, demanding to know where Naru had run off to. I couldn't help but feel slightly offended that Lin thought I had stuffed him away somewhere like a naughty child and not like the twenty-year-old man he was. That just brought the disturbing thought that maybe Naru reported all his dates and whereabouts to Lin, and that was just weird. Though…frankly responsible. Though still weird. I mean, we were grown ups, right?

I was so not feeling like a grown up when John finally called down the search and we all met at a McDonalds sometime around six. The moment Takigawa got a good look at me, he slid across the bench and wrapped a big arm around my shoulders.

"We'll get him," he said, low and gruff and not at all like his usual cheery self. "We'll get Naru. You'll see."

Lin just sat across from me, brooding and glaring out the windows at the passersby as though someone had to take up all the space Naru's usual grump took up or else the world would stop turning. John came back with a tray of cheeseburgers and fries and one lone strawberry milkshake, which he pushed in front of me. I sipped at it and, somehow, the sweetness softened the tightened knot I had become despite the cold cream. I loved strawberry milkshakes.

"Gene can't stay out for long," said John. "He has a body now, he's going to have to go home eventually."

I tightened my fingers around my milkshake. "What if he doesn't know where Lin and Naru live? He's never been to Tokyo."

"But wasn't he there on all our cases?" asked Takigawa, the warmth of his arm somehow counteracting the cold of the ice cream. Maybe that's why. "Like, floating around? Watching us?"

All three of them, even Lin, looked at me, expectantly. I could feel myself curdling at the attention. When had I become the expert? Oh, wait…

I sighed. "Once I asked him about that. Actually, it was back at our old case. The way he described it was…odd. He said that time didn't work right, it was irrelevant, and when I asked him back at the theater he thought I was still 15; when we met, and the same year he had died. He had said that, on that realm, without flesh to separate his thoughts, they tended to blur together unless he had some point or something to focus them on, like a scene, or his fellow spirits. I get the impression the plain isn't always level with our world, but is rather created by the state of our minds, or rather, our spirits. That would explain why that boy spirit at John's parish that we dealt with those years ago was affected by his surroundings. The surroundings are what is perceived by the spirits, and without time or our bodies to keep everything organized…"

"Keeping a map of Tokyo sounds impossible," said Takigawa, grimacing.

"But then what about those spirits I've heard of that are able to lead people to their bodies or to other markers?" asked John.

"Those were earthbound sprits," said Lin, making us all surprised. "Gene isn't bound to a building or a place like most spirits. He isn't held back by a grudge either. It's as he says. He's held back by a person."

Something clicked into place and I put my cold fingers to my cheeks. "Oh!"

"What?"

"It's another thing he said back then—that the only constant was Naru's presence, or rather, his existence, always there, like a life line."

"This would also explain what is always said about spirits being 'tied' to earth, or why they aren't always aware of what is happening to everyone in the same building they haunt, or why spirits are so obsessed with one place or one thing." Takigawa took a large bite of his hamburger. John, even Lin, went about unwrapping their hamburgers, all with little lights of thought in their eyes.

Naru would be having aneurisms of scientist nerdom if he had been here. But he wouldn't share it with us right away, if at all. He'd just close his eyes, smirk, and give little 'humphs' of 'if only those morons had bothered to read, they'd be as omniscient as me, ho ho.'

I shivered and my eyes burned. Bastard. Arrogant bastard. He probably didn't have a clue what all this was doing to me.

"Well, this is interesting and all, but how is that going to help us find him?" asked Takigawa.

"We've got to think like he does," said John. "That's how Mai found him at the theater. Hey, he was able to find himself there, right?"

I snorted. "Yeah, real hard. All he had to do was walk towards the lights and signs down the street. Isn't like there's much else to see in the other direction. And I guess we could say we're not entirely in Tokyo, but a suburb of sorts, huh?"

"Suburb or not, there's a good chance Gene is lost and not keen on being found."

 _And scared._ The thought hit me with a pang. If he thought I was fifteen, he still had the mind of a sixteen or seventeen year old. The terror I'd seen on his face after he had pushed me returned to me like a punch in the stomach and I pushed my half eaten milkshake away, shaking.

"Last time he was alive, he was being murdered…" I said softly. "Now he's back in a body, lost, and knowing we're trying to evict him away from that. He doesn't want to be dead. Maybe he sees exorcism as dying again. Back to that…"

The three faces took on a new shade of grim, though Lin's mouth took a whole new level of thin and white. Takigawa took his arm back, and the cool air that took its place felt like ice.

"We also need to factor in how dawdling on that plain has affected him," said John just as quietly. "And if he was attached to Naru, going through all those cases, being exposed to all those spirits…when we die, we _die._ We stop progressing. That's why we need to move on."

"Is that what death is?"

Again, I got another curious look that waited for my explanation. When I just shrugged they all went back to their burgers, unable to come up with anything else.

When most of the burgers had vanished, the door opened on the busy establishment and the last person I expected to see in a place like that walked in, followed by what had to be a bodyguard dressed in a black suit and rippling in muscles.

Masako Hara stood in the beeping Mcdonalds, surrounding with cheap deep fried foods, questionable and smelly people, dressed in a gorgeous lavender and pink kimono and looking just like a dolphin appearing in someone's plastic pool usually looked.

She caught sight of us instantly and shuffled over, sleeve already set to her face.

"Naru?" she said, eyebrows furrowed. "Or should I say Gene?"

Takigawa, John, and I all exchanged bewildered looks. Like any of us would have the famous Masako's number. Then we blinked and looked at Lin, who was chewing slowly. He didn't speak until he swallowed, which, of course, was polite.

"We don't know."

"Do we know why his brother would try to possess him after all this time? Something must have triggered it."

The one question we hadn't thought of. It hadn't seemed the most important, but now spoken from Masako's sleeve, with the whole restaurant staring and gawking, I couldn't believe I had never thought of it.

"The doppelganger," I whispered.

"What?" said Takigawa.

"It was the case we were on when Naru was possessed," said John, looking just as thunderstruck as me. "The doppelganger kid, the one he said was insane. Where is he?"

"It isn't to do with him, he really is insane," said Lin quietly. "He has taken the proper tests from doctors who took him seriously."

"Then what?" I asked, desperately. "If there wasn't a spirit on the case, what would have influenced him? There has to be something important about the case, right? Something to do with it?"

"All I remember are those horrid posters," said John meekly, ducking his head to hide the heat that was certain to be swelling up his neck at the memory.

"Would a disembodied spirit even be aware of posters?" asked Takigawa, and this time he looked at Masako, not me.

But by now the murmuring had risen to a not so conspicuous pitch, and kids were starting to point and squawk at Masako. Oh the trials of being famous. Not being able to enjoy a cheap milkshake in public without causing a stir.

She gave the room a sidelong glance. "Perhaps we should move to a more appropriate venue for conversation."

Takigawa shrugged and unwrapped the last of his hamburger. "I'm game. Where to?"


	12. A Personal Haunting

**Chapter reward 3/4. R &R, yo. **

Chapter 11

Though the office would have fitted us all comfortably and was the only place we all held in common, everybody agreed without me that the only place Gene really knew was my house, which was a clue in and of itself, proving that, through Naru, Gene wasn't all that disconnected from the living plain, though to what extent, we didn't know, and didn't want to get into or else we'd just end up as confused as ever.

Which also meant I had five people, myself included, crammed into my tiny studio apartment. Thank heaven above Masako had had the thought to excuse her muscle, though he probably went outside to lurk on my doorstep like a complete creep. Oh, Mrs. Toto would have a field trip over this.

At least John had the mind to help me roll away my futon, which I had left out in the fervor of the morning.

"Wait, did you just say your house freaked out after you woke up?"

I looked back from my closet to see Takigawa making a face at poor spider-web faced TV.

"Yeah. Why?"

"And you didn't mention this?!"

I winced. "So I might have a personal haunting, so what?"

Even Lin looked at me like I was stupid. It took me a full minute of them staring at me like I was the dumbest person in the world before it hit me like a train at full speed. John was left to close the closet as I dropped to my knees, hands to my head.

"Naru?"

"But that would mean—that would mean—"

"I don't see anyone," said Masako irritably. "I think you are jumping to conclusions. Naru is possessed. He can't leave his body anyways."

"What makes you say that?" asked John.

"Because death is the separation of the spirit from the body, with exceptions in cases like Mai's. But, then, her spirit is never separated from her body. That's why she can dream and wander without any danger of being cut off and left on the plain should she be woken up."

Takigawa settled his fist in his hand like a student in class who had gotten it. "Like a tie! Her spirit is tied to earth by her own body!"

Masako didn't look like she thought Monk too intelligent either, but she said, "I guess you could think of it that way."

"But Gene says Naru's body is completely identical to his," I started, my throat starting to clog up. "What if…what if…"

Suddenly, the lone light of my apartment burst with a shatter of glass. We all jumped and Masako squeaked.

"Talk about bad timing," said Takigawa from the gloom.

"Oh please, when has it ever been just timing?"

A stillness settled in around us in the dark. I tried to laugh it off and told everyone I'd get to my lamp, which I was closest to anyways. As I was reaching for it, however, I heard a sharp snap and, in the dim light from the streetlamps that peeked through beneath my curtain, I saw the electric plug jerk out of its own accord.

I stared at it. No spirit had ever bothered with unplugging something. Electricity just didn't want to work around them at all, not even a flashlight.

I held very still. "Naru?"

"I don't see anyone," insisted Masako.

"I can barely see you," said Takigawa. "Mai, open the curtain."

But something familiar brushed against me, something I had only felt once. It wasn't soft, nor was it a touch. It was the feeling of air being pushed away from something in waves, like I had felt that one time Naru had let loose his PK, back in a dark cave.

 _Mai…_

I didn't hear it, so much as I felt it.

A plain made by the perceptions of spirits—ties—earth-

"Lin," I whispered. "Can spirits have P.K.?"

"Of course not. They're spirits. P.K. is a force of the mind—the brain. Akin to a chemical reaction."

"Is it?" I reached out towards the waves, though they were diminishing.

Or was it a force of life? Naru, after all, couldn't be completely severed from his body. It was his, after all, not Gene's, and not even with my own wandering spirit could I be separated by my body. If Masako was correct, only death could do that.

Even so, Naru wasn't able to use his P.K. without endangering his life. And if he was possessed, wouldn't Gene have control over that? But no, Gene had to know what unlocking it would do to his body. And yet, Gene didn't have P.K. Gene had been a medium. He had seen that Hiro hadn't a spirit haunting him.

How did it all connect? How could Naru be here?

Takigawa's phone went off. I opened up the curtains to let in the street light as he answered.

"Naru?"

All of us stood at attention. At meeting our faces, he carefully moved it from his face and turned on the speaker phone.

 _"-already talked to the others?"_

Hearing Naru's voice, even with Gene's inflections, made me shudder.

"If you need to know, they're all right here."

The phone was quiet on the other end for a breath that left me with the faint sense that I was drowning by the end of it.

" _What do you say to the friends of your brother who think you've killed him?"_

"Sorry, I'll just get the hell out?" suggested Takigawa.

I couldn't help but cringe, but what could be said? Gene had to be in so much pain…

The words he next spoke sounded eerily familiar.

" _Murder a second time to fix the murder. Wielders of death. How self-righteous and arrogant. And what would you say if I told you Naru invited me in? That he was the one that gave me this chance?"_

"I'd say you'd had your chance," said John.

 _"This isn't some switching game. It's him or me. And if four years really has passed…I think he's had his time. And even if he hasn't, I'm really tired of protecting him. You have no idea the things I've done in his place, pretending to be him so he wouldn't be hurt. I'm done. I'm taking my chance, so good luck getting back home, Lin. Bye bye."_

The line ended, blinking the length of the time on the screen of Takigawa's smart phone.

"What is he talking about?" asked John, just as I was about to ask the same thing.

Lin had jumped to his feet, pulling out his own phone. When he put it to his ear, his expression opened up and fell at the same time. He dropped the phone and crossed my apartment in one large stride.

"What's going on?" asked John, even as Lin yanked open the door and disappeared into the growing evening. Takigawa picked up his phone and put it to his ear. After a few seconds, in which John got up to follow after Lin for answers, Takigawa frowned.

"His line is canceled," he said.

"What for?" asked Masako.

But even as I felt the waves beating against me like stuffed rolls of air down my back, every hair prickling on my skin, I could feel the blood rushing out of my face.

"He's going to England," I said. "Back to his parents."

And chopping off all access we had to him.


	13. PK

**Reward Chapter 4/4. There is still one quiz question that has yet to be answered-#3. But, if none of you can get it, the last chapter will be updated next week. ^.^ Please let me know what you think of the story so far! It's so much fun to hear.**

Chapter 12

We ran. Masako went off with her bodyguard without a word, while Takigawa, John, and I piled into his ugly Toyota. Lin's black car was nowhere to be seen.

"Drive like a maniac!" I cried the moment he closed his door.

"Seatbelt, Mai."

The Toyota gave a mighty four piston roar and squealed down the street. Lucky for us, we'd been to the airport enough times to fly to different parts of Japan, so all of us eyeballed each corner and reeled with the car around each turn. Takigawa swore at every red light, and I thought I could taste blood from biting my lip.

Ten too long minute later, we reeled into the parking lot, frantic enough to puke.

"Launch, launch!" shouted Takigawa like a drill sergeant, even before the car had stopped, and we poured out like water, me in the lead, John rushing to turn off his car, and Takigawa scrambling his huge body out from the back seat (coupes were a pain like that).

It wasn't until I exploded from the orange lit night and into the open expanse pass the airport doors did I come to the horrible realization that I didn't even have a clue what flight Gene would be taking.

Takigawa solved that for me as he stumbled past and pointed up at the electronic board that displayed all the flights.

"London flight leaving in five minutes," he gasped. "A3."

We caught to the sign and set off at a dizzying sprint. Travelers jumped to the side and cried out as we bumped and leapt over luggage and racks. At some point, after trapezing up an escalator and nearly bowling over a little old lady with an even tinier dog in a carryon bag, an air port security guard called us to a stop in utter alarm. Only John attempted a breathless apology, a good few paces behind Takigawa and me.

A passing clock pointed a long hand to the twelve, its small hand to the seven. Two more minutes.

"Just how big…is this effing airport!" panted Takigawa.

I couldn't respond. Even if Takigawa didn't have at least a foot on me in leg length alone, I wasn't known for my athletic endurance. A stitch like a knife twisted in my side, and my panting came out like fire past my throat. Even as I ignored them and pounded my protesting muscles on, I could see black dots appearing in my vision. Air slapped against my face, but I couldn't take enough in; my mouth couldn't open wide enough.

Then we turned a corner and into the back of the legendary line at the security gate. Airport security waited besides the metal detectors and conveyer belts as passengers took off their shoes in pain staking slowness to put into the plastic cubbies provided.

Lin had been stopped in the corner by three security guard, who had their sticks to his pale face.

"Shit," spat Takigawa.

John and I just panted. I couldn't tell whether the water dripping off my chin was sweat or tears.

"Excuse me? Everyone? Can I have your attention. Over here, please. I am Masako Hara, medium between the living and dead, and I am here to inform you that a heavy presence has settled over here. I need your help to deal with it."

Sure enough, looking as preened and clean as though she had had all the time in the world walking here, Masako stood on a chair, her muscle bound lackey standing to one side in a suit. She caught my eye and gave me a stern stare, even as head after head turned in her direction, including the security guards. Some kids in front of us gave a loud shriek of recognition.

"Go!" hissed Takigawa. "Mai, go!"

"But what about—"

"Lin will be following," he said, even as said Lin gave a quiet chop to a guard's neck and slipped unseen behind the two. "Naru needs you. You might be the only one who Gene will listen to."

"And they'll have a harder time spotting you," said John weakly. "Just go, Mai. We'll help Masako."

Heart rattling somewhere beneath my tongue, ready to burst the sensitive vessels there, I pivoted on the spot and set out at a crouched sprint down one side of the hall, ducking beneath the black bands used to keep people out. As I passed a security guard, certain his eyes had already seen me, a pressured wave of air ran over me like a flying rolling pin and knocked over several cubbies in the next line. The security guard jerked his attention to there, and I zipped past and into the crowds beyond.

Thank all that was holy that the London gate was A3 and not G3, for by the time I saw the sign my stomach had started to roll and the black dots had sprouted across my vision in earnest. I had to lock my knees in order to stay upright as I stumbled before the last bewildered passengers in line. Flight attendants stared.

"Na—I—I have to find someone!"

"Good gracious, girl, take a moment to breathe," said one lady, more than a little alarmed.

"D—dark hair…handsome…" oh god, I was in freaking Japan, that could have been any guy. Black hair indeed. When this was over, I was going to dye that freak's hair pink. "Please, let me on, just to check for him." As it had only taken a cursory glance to realize Naru wasn't here, nor was Lin. I had been so focused on shoving one foot in front of the other at a speed my body was incapable of that I hadn't noticed whether or not Lin was ahead or behind me. Could it be he had been caught?

Her lips pursed. "I'm sorry, miss, do you have a ticket?"

"No! I just need to see—if he's there—please!" Don't barf. Don't barf. Don't barf.

Just as the last two passengers (an old man and a little old lady who had caught last glances of me before stepping into the fold out tunnel thing that hooked up to the plane), the flight attendant opened her mouth, a roll of now familiar heavy, hard air—

And her computer screen exploded.

Both her and the other attendant on hand screamed. I leapt. The tunnel gaped wide.

"Wait! Security!"

The stupid tunnel seemed to go on forever, even though I could see the end where it curved into the plane. The little old people cried out as I flew past. Another flight attendant had just stepped out of the plane to see what all the commotion was when I came to the opening and pushed passed him.

The tube of the plane closed in on me, filled with seated passengers with a few still stuffing luggage into the upper racks. For a horrible, sickening second I wondered what I'd do if this was the wrong flight—if Gene had gone somewhere else—if we were wrong—and then I saw him, staring at me with wide eyes somewhere in the middle. He had started to get up, his name on my lips, a protest in the stretches of his mouth.

I took another great leap forward, reaching, his name on my tongue—

And my foot caught on somebody's purse, because it would have been too damn hard to ask if they could have put it under their seat like they were supposed to.

A seat bar, and then the riveted, hard floor, hit my temple in a succession of blows, and I knew nothing.


	14. Backed with Regret

**Ding! Thank the guest reviewer for getting question #3! Hath is murdered for her blood, or rather, the blood of the body she stole. She is the antagonist of my published novel, "Out of Duat." Oh, btw...spoiler.**

 **And there is an epilogue after this. But let me know what you've thought of the story! (The epilogue is adorable, btw)**

Chapter 13

But it wasn't quite utter unconsciousness as I was use to, but rather the dazed, half in, half out glaze that often happens when you hit your head way too hard. While my brain tripped out and buzzed itself into oblivion from the shock, the little of my awareness left swayed me like the deck of the ship, aware of the voices all around me and the dirty airplane floor sticking to the side of my sweaty face.

And then I was upright, standing in my body. The plane about me swarmed and blurred, but one figure stood amidst it all, unfazed, solid, and clear, with his eyes narrowed and a haughty lift to his chin.

Naru.

"I'm not dead, Mai," he said. "You need to convince him to let go and move on. I'm going to shove him out for a bit and onto the astral plane so you can get to him. He won't be able to avoid the truth there. Do you think you can do it?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't. I was too aware of the vertigo sensation it was to feel the grit against my cheek and yet be standing with nothing touching me.

Bodies stepped past me, slow, mere blurs of color. Hands were reaching down to my body at my feet.

"I'm depending on you," he said. "And if this doesn't work...I don't know if it will, so be on your toes. And if it doesn't work—"

"Stop," I pushed out, but it came out as a whisper.

"Are you ready? You've got to give in and pass out all the way."

Even as I questioned his belief in the control I had over my consciousness, I could feel it myself: the dark tunnel over my awareness, the blurring to my thoughts. All I had to do…

"You won't have long," said Naru. "He'll push back in the moment he's out, so you got to catch him off guard."

"What will happen if you…" the whisper of my voice trickled off and the words I tried to say failed just as my lips framed them.

He shrugged, so nonchalantly. "Then I die, I guess. Kind of hard to live without a body."

I jerked forward, steps as slow as tar, the world melting like hot wax into the next. It was getting harder to remember the dirt digging into my cheek.

"I'm doing it now."

"Naru!" My soul was screaming, tearing at its chest, clamping tight about the column of my emotions. "Don't leave! Please!"

"You're being ridiculous." He turned his back to me, which started to melt with the rest of the world.

"No! Please!" The great panic twisting up and up burst forth from my throat. "Marry me!"

For a moment, I thought he looked back. But then I was falling, falling, falling—

I opened my eyes to the soft blue-white glow of foxfires. I came to on my knees, as though I had been kneeling there all that time, waiting.

A strangled, muted scream came from before me. I never knew Naru and Gene's vocal chords could make such a pitiful noise. It moved me, pushed through the shock, the panic, and yanked me to my feet like a hook had been hitched beneath my breastbone and pulled taunt.

Gene stood before me as he had so many times before on this plain, but with his hands clamped over his head as he screamed, eyes wide and wild, body gaunt with terror.

"I don't want to die!" he screeched. "Please, dear god, I don't want to die!"

In a blink I was there, flinging my arms around him.

"It's okay! Gene, it's okay!"

He struggled against my arms, but being spirit, and I still being alive, he couldn't go far. As before when he couldn't stop me from seeing what had to be seen concerning the plain ghost of the old hospital, he couldn't stop me from holding him tight to my chest.

For the first time amongst the fox fires, I started to weep. The tears didn't feel quite right as they didn't fall wet or drip. Rather they streamed down like lines of white fire to pool about Gene's belligerent head like a halo.

I hushed him, pleaded his name, kissed his head, clung to him hard and cried lines of fire. His screams got lost somewhere in my bosom and, with a great shudder, he crumpled to the ground, taking me along with him.

"This isn't you," I said into his ear. "Please, Gene, believe me, this isn't you. You've seen too much, you've brushed against too many cruelties on this plain. This isn't you. I've been so worried about you, you must have been so scared! You're right, people can be evil, but you aren't. Please don't ever think that you are."

I didn't expect him to speak, but when he did, his voice rumbled through my soul, unimpeded by the block of my spiritual flesh against him.

"How can I know? I don't know—I don't even know who I am—I hurt you, Mai, I hurt you."

It came out a sob.

"You would never hurt anyone. You've only ever tried to protect us along with complete strangers. You endangered your soul to help us…" A wan smile worked through me. "That's probably why you stayed back. To watch over Naru."

A strange stillness came over him. The halo of my white-fire tears trickled down about him, outlining his shoulders and spilling across his head like milk. He took in a harsh breath that echoed about the plain.

"That's it," he whispered, hoarse enough to be a frog. "I can't believe…right there…how could I have forgotten so…" Suddenly, he pushed away and clutched to my arms with a pincher like grip. His dark eyes arrested my own. "I need you to tell Noll something. I meant to tell it to him, I was going to call him that morning, but I…don't forget it, swear you'll tell him."

"Of course."

"Tell him…tell him I lied…about Johnny on the second floor. Tell him…it never happened. That Johnny had intended to—to do it to him, but I pretended to be Noll and he did it to me instead. I lied, I told Noll it happened and that he just didn't remember because I didn't want to go to counseling alone. I couldn't. Ever since then I've felt so…tell him, Mai."

"That's why you stayed behind?"

Gene ducked his head till it hung beneath his shoulders, shaggy and heavy.

"It hurt. But Naru endured all that humiliation with me. I regretted it so much…I thought I'd be able to stand it better if it had happened to me and not him, that it was my job to look out for him, but it hurt so bad, and then I got angry, thinking it wouldn't have happened if Noll had just kept his big know-it-all mouth shut he wouldn't have pissed off Johnny so much, but…but that's all wrong. I shouldn't have lied." His hands slipped from my shoulders, head still hung low. "I'm so sorry. To say I loved you and…I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know what happened to me."

"It's fine, Gene. Everything's going to be okay."

"Is it?" his eyes had gone bright as the fox fires about us. "Because this time it's going to be for real. I'm really dying this time. No more dream visits, no more chats." His mouth bobbed as it often did just for me. "No more…no more Gene."

Barking out a high laugh, I slapped him on the shoulder. My hand went right through him. "Don't be ridiculous. It's only for a little while. Jeeze, aren't you a medium? Don't you know there's something on the other side?"

He looked at me for a long while, eyes jumping from spot to spot on my face. Then he grinned.

"My offer still stands. If you live with Naru for a bit and find out he's not worth it, I'll be waiting. And I'll be me, this time, not some…whatever I was…am."

"Was," I said firmly. "You will always be Gene, and nobody else, no matter what, and I will always love you. No one could ever replace you in my life."

This time, when I embraced him, he hugged back, closer and closer until I couldn't tell the difference between my form and his and all the fox fires blinked out of existence.


	15. Epilogue

**Because I like you. ^.^**

Epilogue

I popped back into consciousness on a stretcher. I only had to see the velcro straps over myself in order to wish I had just stayed passed out.

"Oh please, you have got to be kidding me."

"Hey, Mai, can you tell me how old you are?" said the right emergency personnel, stupid hat and all.

"I'm eighteen, you have ten fingers, and I just fell and hit my head so please let me go."

"No can do, not until we know the severity of your concussion."

The other EM nodded as she gave some signals to someone behind her. They must have opened the door, as I recognized the electronic display board and the glass doors I had plowed through only minutes before. "If not tended to, you could fall asleep and die. Ever heard of aneurisms?"

I swore something pretty that would've made even Takigawa wince. This couldn't be happening to me. At least they hadn't put that humiliating neck brace against…oh Lord, they had.

Someone gave a little snort around the vicinity of my head and, if it weren't for said unholy neck brace, I would've given myself whiplash trying to see who it was. Instead I got a nice little punch of pain and little jerk of nausea for my eagerness.

Holding open the doors for the EMTs to push my bed of shame through was Naru. The way his eyes crinkled and the small, amused smile—always more of a smirk—proved it to me.

I wheedled an arm from the straps to reach for him, to which he left the door behind him to catch up and take my hand.

"Take this humiliation as due punishment for injuring yourself yet again on the job," he said.

"Oh, shut up, Naru, and just be grateful for once."

"Oh? You're sure it's me?"

I smiled. "Only you would say something so rude to his girlfriend who got injured from saving his life. You're such an ass."

"You say that as though you love that about me."

"It's you." And now my throat was closing up. A relief that powerful wasn't going to be kept off for long. "Asshole. Thoughtless. I love you."

That smirk twitched minutely into something softer, something that actually reached his usually grim eyes. It was a tender thing, that smile, one that was rare and almost always brought on by something I did. Yet another expression Gene would never have been able to replicate, because it was a smile just for me.

In the ambulance, Naru was allowed to ride along in the back with us and we caught up on all that had happened. Apparently his memory of what had happened after Gene had taken over was blotchy, at best. He had no memories of the fire fox lit plain or any other spirits, and in his theory, since he wasn't dead nor a medium, he hadn't been there at all, but on another plain entirely. He did remember moments of clarity, including our meeting on the plain. He recalled destroying my apartment, but that had been an accident on his behalf, as he had been experimenting. I asked if he had remembered what happened afterwards, he gave me a blank look which really said nothing, and I decided I didn't want to know. Watching yourself make out with your girlfriend had to be weird on all accounts, whether you knew it was your twin brother or not.

A real doppelganger, then.

"Was it scary?" I asked as I got flashlights to the eyes. It hurt a lot more than it should, and the EMT frowned.

"You're an idiot." He said. "What do you think?"

"Aw gee, I love you too. Fine, what brought it all on anyways?"

I had to blink a few times before my eyes adjusted and I could see his deep frown. Drowsiness had settled in after the initial excitement of seeing him had time to melt away. All that running, all that stress, and it would be such an easy way to get away from this headache…

"I…" he rubbed his forehead. "I don't…it could have just been the subject of the case. Though, for all I know, it was those posters."

I almost laughed, but it drained away before it could leave my lungs as I remembered Gene's final words to me. I glanced at the EMTs, who had been acting like they'd been ignoring our conversation the whole time. I bit my lip, but I didn't want to risk forgetting if I fell asleep and my head really was as bad as they say.

"Naru…" I hesitated. What had been his exact words? In such a way they wouldn't understand? "Gene remembered why he stayed behind. He wanted to tell you he lied about what happened with Johnny on the second floor. He said it never happened."

Naru blinked at me. Then he gave a heavy sigh and slapped a hand to his forehead.

"Moron," he breathed. "Of course something as inane and stupid as that…and all this drama…"

I frowned. "Okay, he risked his soul to pass on that message, the least you can do is show some gratitude."

"Gratitude? Mai, why would I care? It's in the past."

"Well…you don't have to get tested for, you know…"

"Sexual transmitted diseases," he said, nonplussed. "I'm sure the EMTs have heard worse. But oh wow, my ever compassionate big brother risked his existence to save me a doctor's exam; the great shame of turning my head and coughing. Yay."

"Hey! Doesn't it comfort you at all?"

"I don't even remember anything, which is quite common for children who are sexually molested. No, he risked all that to relieve his own guilt. Idiot. You know one time he told me he cheated off my exam in a math class? Me. Not the teachers, me. Like I cared. He was the one that ended up failing his SAT test later because he kept cheating off me and didn't learn it for himself. Always sucked at math…"

But Naru was smiling again, even as he shook his head in disbelief. He had ducked his head so his bangs hid his eyes, so all I saw was his curved mouth.

"That's so like him," he wagged his head some more. "Stupid. That's so like him."

Naru stayed with me through the exams, only vanishing to fill out paperwork and supposedly inform the others of my state. As I was finally allowed to dose off during a scan of my head, Naru took that chance to go home and get some sleep himself and I didn't see him again until late that morning, when I woke up and was discharged. Takigawa and John had already left with my assurances that Naru was Naru again, and that I hadn't seen Gene at all in my dreams.

He handed me a change of clothes from my apartment and waited outside the bathroom as I dressed. As I pulled up my jeans, a dark little box slipped out from the pocket and tumbled across the floor. Confused (I usually checked my pockets before putting my clothes in the wash), I picked it up. The moment I felt the short velvet, everything in my chest hitched up to my collarbone. My fumbling fingers almost couldn't open it.

A yellow gold, solitaire diamond ring blinked up from its velvet cushion inside.

I walked out with it open in my hand. Naru, leaning next to the hospital room door with his hands in his pockets, only glanced at it before giving me the familiar 'you're a moron' looks.

"You're supposed to wear it," he said.

"What is it for?"

"What do you mean? You're the one who asked, though I'm beginning to question the roles in our relationship if you're the one initiating everything. I thought it was traditionally the man's job to ask." When I just continued to stare at him and then the beautiful ring, he rolled his eyes, sauntered over, and plucked the ring from its box. Then, taking my left hand, he slipped it onto my left ring finger. It fit perfectly, and I called it when he cocked his head and gave that one sided smile he did when pleased with his own attempt at romance.

Of course I remembered. Of course I wouldn't forget that desperate upsurge of frantic longing for Naru as he vanished from me into the darkness. In that horrible moment I had known more sure than the sky was blue that I would give anything to never be separated from him again, and 'marry me' had been my mouth's stupid interpretation of how to fix that, as though shouting 'marry me' would have kicked Gene out and brought Naru back like magic. All the stupid little worries of if it would work out or if I was old enough and everything like unto it had meant nothing. Even now, in the daylight, with Naru standing in front of me giving me that 'you're stupid' look, they all seemed to be the most pointless concerns to have. What if it didn't work out? I'd make it work out. Not to mention, with a ring on him, I'd have some legitimate power to ward Masako's attempts on his affections forever.

But the fact that Naru had remembered such a little thing…

"I didn't know what you wanted, so I thought simple and traditional was best. If you don't like it, we can always return it and find something else."

I could hardly breathe. "You're marrying me?"

"Agreeing to," he said, wagging my hand before me as though that could wake me up. The lone diamond glittered as it moved. "If you keep looking at me like a dead fish I'm going to take it back, along with the box of bagels and strawberry cream cheese waiting in the car."

I schooled my face, but the fish just probably gave way to wonder, then delirious happiness.

"Naru babies?"

Naru blanched.

Laughing, I grabbed his hand, gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the mouth, and then pulled him out of the room and towards said breakfast waiting for us in the parking lot.


	16. Sequel Alert! Holy

In case you missed it, the sequel to 'Gang' is now out! Check out 'Holy' if you got a mo. As usual, you can expect at least one update a week from me. Enjoy the drama, and thanks so much for reading and reviewing my stories, you guys are the bestest!


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